Antonelli could become Formula 1’s youngest-ever World Champion, Verstappen could take an eighth consecutive COTA podium and Leclerc could overtake Barrichello and Vettel on the Ferrari podium list. Here are the milestones and the records which could be broken at the 2026 United States Grand Prix!
The 2026 United States Grand Prix Milestones
The 2026 United States Grand Prix will be the 1,167th race in World Championship history.
The 2026 United States Grand Prix will be the 55th United States Grand Prix since the event was first held in 1908 and the 47th time that the event has been held as a round of the World Championship.
The 2025 United States Grand Prix will be the 84th time that Formula 1 has raced in the United States.
This will be the 14th Formula 1 race held at Circuit of The Americas since the Texas venue joined the calendar in 2012.
Lewis Hamilton retains his record of being the only driver to appear in every race at Circuit of The Americas to date.
The 2026 United States Grand Prix is the sixth F1 race to take place on October 25. The 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix was the last race to take place on this date, while F1 has raced once previously at COTA, in 2015.
Title Chance for Antonelli
The 2026 United States Grand Prix is the first race of the season at which the title could mathematically be won. Kimi Antonelli could become F1’s 36th World Champion this season.
A title win for Kimi Antonelli, at the age of 20, would make him the youngest-ever World Champion, breaking the record set by Sebastian Vettel, at the age of 23, in the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He will also be the first driver born in the 2000s – and the first driver not born in the 1900s – to become World Champion.
Antonelli would become the first Italian driver to win the Drivers’ Championship in 73 years. He would be the first Italian World Champion, after Giuseppe Farina (1950) and Alberto Ascari (1952 & 1953).
This would be the first time that three different drivers have won the title in three consecutive years since Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
Antonelli would become the fourth driver to win the Drivers’ Championship with Mercedes, after Juan Manuel Fangio (1954, 1955), Lewis Hamilton (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) and Nico Rosberg (2016). It would be the team’s first Drivers’ Championship win since Hamilton took the honours in 2020. Mercedes would become the third constructor, after Ferrari and McLaren, to have won the Drivers’ Championship on as many as ten occasions.
Antonelli would be the third driver to win the title on October 25, after John Surtees in 1964 and Lewis Hamilton – also at COTA – in 2015.
If he were to win the title at the 2026 United States Grand Prix, Antonelli would win the World Championship in only his 42nd Grand Prix. Only 12 drivers have won the title in fewer races from their first appearance. Lewis Hamilton and Jacques Villeneuve are the only drivers to have done so since Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972.
Antonelli would be only the fourth driver in F1 history to win the title within his first two seasons in the sport. Juan Manuel Fangio, Jacques Villeneuve and Lewis Hamilton also won their first titles in their second season, while Giuseppe Farina was the inaugural World Champion in 1950.
The Formula 1 Records Which Could Be Broken
A podium finish for Max Verstappen at the 2026 United States Grand Prix would make this the eighth consecutive race at COTA in which Verstappen has finished in the top three. He would become only the second driver, after Lewis Hamilton, to record podium finishes on eight consecutive visits to a circuit. Hamilton has done so on four occasions – at Silverstone, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and the United States.
A podium finish for Charles Leclerc this weekend would see him overtake Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel for second on the list of most top three finishes with Ferrari. All three drivers are currently tied on 55 top three finishes with the Scuderia.
A win from pole position for Max Verstappen would see him equal Michael Schumacher for the second-most wins from pole in F1 history. Verstappen has won 39 races from pole to date, compared to Schumacher’s 40. Only Lewis Hamilton sits ahead of them on the list, having converted 61 of his poles into wins.
If Max Verstappen leads 12 laps of the race, he will become only the third driver in F1 history – after Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to have led as many as 4,000 Grand Prix laps.
If Lewis Hamilton wins the 2026 United States Grand Prix, it will be the second time that he has won the United States Grand Prix on October 25. It would be the 23rd time that a driver has won the same race twice on the same date.
A podium finish for Lando Norris would see him become the 19th driver to reach 50 top three finishes in Formula 1, equalling Jenson Button for 18th on the all-time list. He would also overtake Lewis Hamilton for fifth place on the list of most podium finishes with McLaren, as well as equalling Button for fourth place on the list of most top three results for a British driver.
If Oscar Piastri or Charles Leclerc win, they will join a list of eight other drivers who have won as many as ten Grands Prix without ever winning the title.
A sixth place finish for Carlos Sainz or Fernando Alonso will see them equal Felipe Massa for the most sixth place finishes in F1 history. Massa recorded 27 sixth place finishes during his career, while Sainz and Alonso have had 26 to date.
With Kimi Antonelli having taken his maiden win at the 2026 Chinese Grand Prix, there are now 13 previous Grand Prix winners on the grid. If another driver takes a maiden victory this year, the next race will be the first time since the 1980 British Grand Prix that as many as 14 previous winners have lined up on the grid.
A pole position for Charles Leclerc would see him equal Nigel Mansell for eighth on the list of most poles with a single team. Mansell took 28 poles with Williams during his career, while Leclerc has taken 27 poles with Ferrari to date.
A Grand Slam for Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton – winning from pole position having led every lap and set the fastest lap – would be their seventh Grand Slam. It would see them take outright second place on the list of most Grand Slams in F1, behind only Jim Clark.
A third place finish for Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc would make Ferrari the first constructor to record 300 third place finishes in Formula 1.
A fastest lap for Max Verstappen would be his 39th, overtaking Sebastian Vettel for fifth on the list of most fastest laps.
If Max Verstappen leads from start to finish, this would be the 20th Grand Prix which he has led from lights to flag. That would see him overtake Ayrton Senna for second on the list of most races led from start to end. Only Lewis Hamilton, on 23, has led more races from start to end than Verstappen and Senna.
Max Verstappen holds the record for wins from the most different grid positions in Formula 1. He’ll become the first driver to win from 11 different grid slots this weekend should he win from 5th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th or 20th on the grid.
The United States Grand Prix Records On Offer
Victory for Max Verstappen at the 2026 United States Grand Prix would see him equal Lewis Hamilton’s record of five victories at Circuit of The Americas. Hamilton himself can extend the existing record to six wins.
Mercedes and Red Bull are currently tied for most wins at COTA, with five apiece. Either team could set a new outright record this weekend.
Red Bull hold the record for most podium finishes at COTA, having recorded 13 top three finishes here to date. Mercedes, with 12, could equal or eclipse that record in the 2026 United States Grand Prix.
Lando Norris and Ollie Bearman are the only current drivers who’ve scored points on every appearance to date at Circuit of The Americas.
If Red Bull outscore Mercedes by six points in the 2026 United States Grand Prix, they will become the team that has scored the most points in COTA’s history on the F1 calendar. Mercedes have scored 351 points here to date, compared to Red Bull’s 346.
Lewis Hamilton will become the first driver to have completed 700 Grand Prix laps at COTA if he completes the first 27 laps of the 2026 United States Grand Prix.
2026 United States Grand Prix: Qualifying Records
Lewis Hamilton holds the record for most pole positions at COTA, with three. Max Verstappen could equal that record this weekend.
Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc and Ollie Bearman each hold a 100% Q3 appearance rate at Circuit of The Americas.
Longevity Records on Offer for Alonso
Fernando Alonso’s last win came at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix. A victory at any race in 2026 would see him set a new record for the longest gap between wins in F1 history, by quite a margin. Riccardo Patrese holds the current record, having waited 6 years, 6 months and 28 days between wins at the 1983 South African Grand Prix and the 1990 San Marino Grand Prix.
A podium finish for Fernando Alonso at any race in 2026 would see him overtake Alain Prost for fifth on the list of most podium finishes in Formula 1. Both drivers have recorded 106 top three finishes.
If Fernando Alonso leads a race, he would become only the third driver – after Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton – to have led a lap of a Grand Prix in as many as 16 different seasons.
A victory for Fernando Alonso in 2026 would make him only the fourth driver – after Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart and Alain Prost to have won with as many as four different constructors during his Formula 1 career.