Kimi Antonelli just missed out on clinching his first world title in a dominant victory in the United States Grand Prix.
The 20-year-old Italian leads Mercedes team-mate George Russell by 123 points after coming home ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli will be crowned champion in Mexico City next weekend as long he does not lose more than 23 points to Russell or more than 24 to Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.
That means a ninth place would be enough to become champion even if Russell wins the race, and a 10th would be enough if Hamilton is victorious.
If Russell or Hamilton do not win, Antonelli will be champion next Sunday no matter where he finishes.
Antonelli stamped his authority on this race in the same way as he has on the season, and was out of touch even by the first corner as his rivals all battled behind him at the Circuit of the Americas.
The key stories of the race were:
- Antonelli's sublime victory, his first since the Spanish Grand Prix last month
- A race-long squabble between Leclerc and Verstappen for second place
- Little else, frankly
Antonelli took control of the race from the very beginning, an excellent start combined with a gripping scrap through the first lap between Verstappen and Leclerc leaving him more than two seconds clear by the end of the first lap.
No-one got near him from then on.
Mercedes had chosen the medium tyres for the start, while Leclerc and the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Isack Hadjar started on new softs.
And Antonelli was able to convert that choice into a one-stop race while almost everyone else did two, emphasising his superiority as he finished 16 seconds clear of Leclerc.
The race was also a stamp of approval for the Mercedes upgrade package that was introduced two races ago in Malaysia but initially took them backwards.
Assiduous work ever since has moved it to the point where, while it remains tricky to optimise, it is definitively quicker than the older specification.
"It was the result we needed," Antonelli said. "All this time putting work on the new package and finally seeing the result was very pleasant, perfect strategy to call the one-stop."
As for the title, he said: "I know we are very close. We try to finish on a high and hopefully we can clinch it very soon."
Russell, who started sixth, had a frustrating race. He was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, which dropped him to 10th after his pit stop. He could only make up two places and finished eighth.
Hamilton's fourth place means both he and fellow Briton Russell just about retain a mathematical chance of winning the championship.
The entertainment was provided by Leclerc and Verstappen, initially wheel to wheel and then at a distance as divergent strategies played out.
Leclerc, who started fourth, jumped up to third place behind Verstappen on the exit of the first corner, and then bravely sat it out around the outside of the Red Bull through the high speed Turn Three at the start of the Esses and then dived down the inside into Turn Four.
Verstappen, though, was not finished, and he closed in on Leclerc down the back straight and they fought hard through the switchback series of corners through the stadium section before the Dutchman claimed second place with a dive down the inside of Turn 15.
Verstappen led Leclerc to his first stop on lap 13, Ferrari waiting two laps longer before the Monegasque made his own first stop.
Verstappen went on to the soft tyres and Leclerc the mediums, the Dutchman then switching to mediums when he stopped on lap 31.
But Leclerc's mediums in the second stint allowed him to run eight laps longer than the Red Bull driver.
Leclerc came out 8.5 seconds behind the Dutchman and closed the gap to be on his tail within five laps as Verstappen himself came up behind Lando Norris' McLaren.
They ran nose to tail for two laps before Verstappen passed Norris into Turn One on lap 47, Leclerc following him past later in the lap.
Two laps later, Leclerc picked off Verstappen down the inside of Turn One to secure the second podium position.
Verstappen was grumbling about his car over the radio for much of the race but he had enough to hold off a late charge from Hamilton - on a similar strategy to Leclerc - by one second at the flag.
Norris managed to nurse his tyres to the end with just one stop to beat Hadjar, while the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri fended off Russell for half the race to take seventh.
Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson and Alpine's Pierre Gasly claimed the final points positions in ninth and 10th.