MEXICO CITY (AP) — Here’s a guide that tells you what you need to know about the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend. It’s the 19th round of Formula 1 where the 20-year old Kimi Antonelli could become the youngest champion in series history.
— In the U.S., on Apple TV.
— Other countries are listed here.
Friday: First and second practice.
Saturday: Third practice and qualifying.
Sunday: Grand Prix, 71 laps of the 4.3-kilometer (2.6-mile) Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. It starts at 2 p.m. local time (4 p.m. EST/2000 GMT).
The Mexico City GP presents a unique hurdle for teams and drivers alike, sitting 2,240 meters (7,350 ft) above sea level. At this altitude, thin air starves the engines of oxygen, meaning power loss, and makes it harder to prevent car parts like brakes from overheating.
Antonelli's Mercedes predecessor Lewis Hamilton is the only driver to seal the title here, clinching his fourth and fifth championships at the circuit in 2017 and 2018.
Hamilton sealed his 2017 title by finishing just ninth. That's the same result that Antonelli needs on Sunday to ensure he can't be caught by George Russell or Hamilton before the end of the season, and can start the title celebrations in Mexico.
Antonelli took a dominant win from pole position at the United States Grand Prix last week as Russell and Hamilton did just enough to ensure the Italian couldn't clinch the title in Texas.
Antonelli was never seriously under threat as he finally got the hang of a Mercedes car which had been tricky to handle since a package of aerodynamic upgrades. Charles Leclerc was second for Ferrari and Max Verstappen, going for a third consecutive win, third for Red Bull.
Hamilton was fourth and Russell was at a loss to explain his lack of pace as he finished eighth, far off his teammate.
— Kimi Antonelli wins US Grand Prix and tightens his grip on historic F1 title chase
— Kimi Antonelli’s Austin win points to potential dominance in 2027 not just this year
— Verstappen’s hot form cools off as Red Bull goes backward in frustrating US Grand Prix at COTA
— Hamilton cheers F1’s Rwanda plan, hints at delaying retirement to race in Africa
— Sergio Pérez commits to struggling Cadillac with 2-year extension through 2029
73 — If Antonelli claims the world title, it would end a 73-year drought for Italian drivers stretching back to Alberto Ascari’s second world championship in 1953.
5 — Verstappen holds the record for the most victories at the Mexico City GP with five (2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023).
300 — This will be Sergio Perez's 300th race in F1, making him the seventh driver in history to reach that number. The most successful Mexican driver in F1 gets to celebrate the milestone at home.
“We’re very close but we’ll try to finish on a high, and hopefully we can clinch it very soon." — Antonelli.
“Hopefully there are some answers somewhere but at the moment I don’t have them.” — Russell to Sky Sports on his lack of pace.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy, center, leads the field after the start of the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race in Austin, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli of Italy celebrates on the podium after winning the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race in Austin, Texas, Sunday, Oct. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into the Democratic candidate running for the U.S. Senate in the state after revelations that her campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting another candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.
Dunleavy's order, posted overnight on social media, comes a day after President Donald Trump called for the criminal prosecution of Mary Peltola and her campaign.
In a race that's among a handful of Senate contests this year expected to determine control of the chamber, the Republican president had previously directed his Department of Justice to sue to block certification of it, demanding that Alaska be prevented from certifying a win by Peltola if Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. remains on the state's ballots.
Dunleavy wrote that reporting by The New York Times “reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates — including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator — to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes.”
“Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections,” Dunleavy added, noting that the reporting “substantially supports” earlier findings by the state’s elections board into the matter.
Trump on Thursday cast doubt on whether Peltola would be seated in the Senate even if she won the election. “Well, you’re going to have to see what happens," the president told reporters on his way to a rally in South Carolina. "It’s hard to believe that she could even be allowed to run.”
Peltola’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a message early Thursday seeking comment on Dunleavy’s order. But during a campaign stop in Soldotna, Peltola, a former congresswoman, suggested the Times’ report was a “distraction” from issues such as Sen. Sullivan’s support of the war in Iran.
“This is just another distraction. It’s another diversion,” she said in a video posted online. “This is all stuff to sell newspapers. This is all stuff to get subscriptions.”
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance didn’t go as far as the president did in calling for Peltola to be prosecuted but said he supported a probe into possible election fraud.
“I mean, she is a person who, for months now, has pretended that she has had nothing to do with the fact that they have put a fraudulent person, a person explicitly designed to confuse Alaska voters, on the ballot,” Vance told reporters ahead of a campaign trip to Texas. “She is trying to steal a Senate seat from the voters of Alaska, and it’s disgraceful.”
Earlier this year, a top state elections official ruled Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher in the small fishing community of Petersburg, ineligible for the primary ballot, concluding that his declaration of candidacy was filed “with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.”
The case went to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled he was qualified to run. He has long denied he was running at Democrats’ behest and has said he had no contact with Peltola’s campaign: “Zero, none, zilch,” he said in June after announcing his run.
Alaskan voters will see “Dan S. Sullivan” identified as a “registered Republican” and “incumbent” on their ballots, while “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” will not have a party affiliation.
The New York Times reported that interviews, text messages and documents prepared for a potential lawsuit showed Peltola’s team aimed to coax candidates into the race, with the aim of splitting support for the GOP senator.
Asked about the reporting on Wednesday, Trump told journalists, “I think they should be prosecuted.” He earlier had posted on social media that “Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done.”
While controversial, the situation in Alaska is not that unusual. Political parties often support extra candidates on ballots to try to pull votes from their rivals. If state courts allow it, legal experts say, the federal government has no role challenging the results.
In Ohio’s Senate race, Republicans have been tied to an effort to boost a socialist on the ballot who would pull votes from the Democratic candidate challenging Sen. Jon Husted.
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP. AP writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
Vice President JD Vance speaks to the media before boarding Air Force Two for Texas, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Evan Vucci/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - This combination photo shows Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, left, in Palmer, Alaska, Aug. 17, 2026, and a candidate in Alaska's Senate race, Dan Sullivan, right, in Petersburg, Alaska, July 3, 2026. (AP Photos/Mark Thiessen/Becky Bohrer, File)
FILE - Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks in the Oval Office of the White House during an event with President Donald Trump, Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - Mary Peltola, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska, addresses supporters at an election watch party on Aug. 18, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
