IT'S RACE WEEK: 5 storylines we're excited about ahead of the 2026 United States Grand Prix

After a weekend off it’s time to get another triple header of races underway, and for the next leg we’re heading across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. A new Drivers’ Champion could be crowned, but there are plenty of other exciting storylines as the paddock prepares to return to Austin for what is always a big weekend.

Antonelli’s first chance to become champion

It’s quite remarkable that Kimi Antonelli finds himself in this position in just his second season in Formula 1, but such has been his consistent form, the Italian could wrap up his first Drivers’ Championship as early as this weekend.

The permutations are simple when it comes to what Antonelli needs to do himself, and that’s win the race. Anything other than victory at Circuit of The Americas and the title celebrations will remain on hold for at least one more week, but if he is standing on the top step on Sunday afternoon then he will also need some other results to go his way.

Team mate George Russell is Antonelli’s nearest challenger, and the gap at present means Russell would need to finish no higher than ninth for Antonelli to become champion should he win. But even then there needs to be another result that goes in Antonelli’s favour, with Lewis Hamilton - currently third in the championship - coming home no higher than fifth in the United States Grand Prix.

It’s a long shot for it all to come together, but stranger things have happened.

Can Red Bull and Verstappen keep winning?

Antonelli acknowledged the recent form from Max Verstappen would make for a “very, very scary” scenario if the four-time World Champion was closer to him in the standings.

Verstappen has won each of the last two races – the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia as well as the Singapore Grand Prix – while also winning the Sprint in Singapore to secure a clean sweep. Add that to a tight second place in Baku, and Verstappen was just seven points away from a maximum score over the previous triple header.

That run has lifted Verstappen up to fourth in the Drivers’ Championship, but at 119 points adrift he has to ensure Antonelli doesn’t outscore him by six points or more in order to keep his own extremely slim hopes alive.

What was impressive about the recent set of results is that they came on a variety of different tracks, including ones that Red Bull have been successful on in the past, but also ones where Verstappen had never won. The question now is whether that all-round performance can continue into the next set of races, making Verstappen a factor in the fight for victory at every round.

Upgrades still on the horizon

Despite his wins, one of the reasons Verstappen was not fully convinced he will be in the mix at the front for the remainder of the season is the development race.

2026 has seen a hugely exciting rate of development with the new cars, to such an extent that there have been major fluctuations in form at the front of the field. While Mercedes started off with a dominant car, Ferrari took the fight to them at the start of the European season, and then McLaren came on strong with a run of two wins and three pole positions in four races through late summer.

Now it is Red Bull’s turn to be the biggest threat, but will it remain that way? McLaren are planning on introducing further upgrades in Austin to build on a package that was brought to Baku, while other teams are also expected to continue developing their cars.

That’s because there is a lot to be learned for 2027 as well, and if a team have space in the budget cap to bring the developments to the car then they can get a clearer direction on where they are heading into next season.

Mercedes have not stated there will be new parts on their car in the United States, but they are looking forward to a race weekend with three practice sessions in which to try and understand the upgrade brought to Malaysia, after struggling to get the full performance out of it over the past two rounds.

The newest rookie on the F1 grid

Even without racing for a week, there has still been some big news coming out from one of the teams as Haas confirmed the latest addition to their driver line-up.

Formula 2 championship leader Rafael Camara will join Haas next year – agreeing a multi-year deal according to the team’s announcement – and is expected to form a partnership with Ollie Bearman in 2027. Camara has been hugely impressive in the junior categories, fighting with Antonelli in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2023, winning that title in 2024 and then following up with the Formula 3 crown a year later.

An impressive outing during a testing of previous car (TPC) event in Portimao this summer sealed the deal for Camara, who has yet to appear during an FP1 session but showed the adaptability required to convince Haas he was the best candidate for the seat. He beat high quality opposition in the likes of Leonardo Fornaroli, Ryo Hirakawa and Jack Doohan to the drive, and will get his chance to show what he can do in a race seat next year.

With Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu suggesting it is a formality that Bearman is confirmed for another year, the news only leaves Racing Bulls with an official vacancy, as Alan Permane’s team have yet to confirm either of their drivers for 2027.

A huge crowd at a driver favourite

Almost every race weekend can be classified as a big event given the number of sell-out crowds seen this season, but a trip to Circuit of The Americas has regularly delivered one of the biggest attendances of the year in recent times.

Austin is a city that attracts a massive number of fans to join the party, with activations all across town to ensure there’s no chance of missing the fact that the race is happening. And it’s often an exciting race, with the track layout an all-round test for drivers, including significant elevation at Turn 1, high-speed changes of direction through the first sector, and good overtaking opportunities.

Strategy is not always clear-cut, either, so we’ve had a number of tense finishes in recent years as drivers converge late in the race.

And while we’ll celebrate the size of the visit to Texas this weekend, it will also provide the first opportunity to get the drivers’ reactions to the latest addition to the F1 calendar, following the announcement of the African Grand Prix in Rwanda last week.