Kimi Antonelli just became the youngest Formula 1 Championship leader in F1 history with his win at the Japanese Grand Prix. The Italian Mercedes driver benefitted from a Safety Car period to lead Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc home to the podium.
Win
WinA big win for Kimi Antonelli who had a terrible start but recovered well, making good passes and managed to take advantage of a Safety Car that gave him a 10s advantage to jump into the lead from which he never looked back. George Russell was unfortunate with the Safety Car timing, as he had just made his pit stop, but he managed to pass his way up to P4.
A win for Oscar Piastri and McLaren, who suffered a dual DNS in China, to bounce back for a P2 result. Oscar also lost out to the Safety Car but managed to hold his position for a terrific P2. Lando Norris made a pass on Lewis Hamilton for P5 so a good recovery for McLaren. Not sure they needed to pit first, given the amount of laps it took for the Hard compounds to warm up.
A win for Charles Leclerc who took P3 after getting by his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, and he also lost out to the Safety Car but managed to keep his tires alive and secure P3. Hamilton benefitted from the Safety Car but couldn’t hold off George Russell and Lando Norris.
A big win for Alpine and Pierre Gasly who held off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take P7. Max said that Pierre and the Alpine were seriously quick and so it would seem as Pierre made the most of his new Mercedes power unit and better car in 2026.
A win for Liam Lawson and Racing Bulls to secure P9 given he struggled early on in the race. While Arvid Linblad didn’t factor, Liam put his head down and brought home some points ny taking advantage of the Safety Car.
Fail
FailA fail for Red Bull who had a miserable weekend in a car that Max Verstappen called Un-drivable. To be fair, he did claw his way to P8. Despite his bravado, Isack Hadjar failed to reach the points.
A fail for Williams who didn’t factor and, if anything, gave us some insight that weight is not their only issue.
A fail for Franco Colapinto who couldn’t get into the points even though his teammate had a P7 result. Alpine needs to make hay while the sun shines early on before development tends to equalize the grid and the lack of points from Franco stings. To be fair to Franco, there are winners and losers when a Safety Car comes out and he was one of the losers so it didn’t help his race.
A fail for Audi who looked quick all weekend long but neither Nico Hulkenberg or Gabriel Bortoleto could nip into the points.
WTH
WTHNot sure why Ollie Bearman had so much closing speed to Colapinto that caught him out and led to a serious bad crash. Thankfully he is ok as that was a 50g crash!
Ultimately the cars are leaning during the race and changing energy deployment/harvest strategy but downshifting in 130R and dropping anchor at the end of a long straight is just frustrating for me. Let’s hope the FIA and F1, along with the teams, can make some much-needed changes to the regulations before Miami, they have time to really think this issue out and come up with a better solution.
Pirelli’s View:
DARIO MARRAFUSCHI – PIRELLI MOTORSPORT DIRECTOR
The quickest strategy on paper was essentially the one adopted by all the drivers in the race, with Valtteri Bottas the only driver to do something different. No team evidently considered it worthwhile to take a risk on the Soft compound, either at the start or in the final stages, despite it remaining a viable option thanks to the low degradation recorded in the preceding days. Albon’s use of the C3 was clearly not driven by strategic considerations, given the high number of pit lane visits he made. During the Grand Prix, the compounds did not restrict the cars’ race pace.
The safety car triggered by Bearman’s off-track moment certainly benefited those who had not attempted the undercut, including race winner Kimi Antonelli. Without the neutralisation, we still believe that the pit stop would have taken place in the laps immediately thereafter.
Pirelli’s Japanese trip will not end today, as on Tuesday and Wednesday we have scheduled two days of testing at Suzuka for the development of next season’s dry-weather tyres. Assisting us on track, with one car each, will be the Red Bull and Racing Bulls teams.
Japanese Grand Prix Results:
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Laps | Time / Retired | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 53 | 1:28:03.403 | 25 |
| 2 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 53 | +13.722s | 18 |
| 3 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 53 | +15.270s | 15 |
| 4 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 53 | +15.754s | 12 |
| 5 | 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 53 | +23.479s | 10 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 53 | +25.037s | 8 |
| 7 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 53 | +32.340s | 6 |
| 8 | 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing | 53 | +32.677s | 4 |
| 9 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | 53 | +50.180s | 2 |
| 10 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas F1 Team | 53 | +51.216s | 1 |
| 11 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | 53 | +52.280s | 0 |
| 12 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull Racing | 53 | +56.154s | 0 |
| 13 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | 53 | +59.078s | 0 |
| 14 | 41 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | 53 | +59.848s | 0 |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 53 | +65.008s | 0 |
| 16 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | 53 | +65.773s | 0 |
| 17 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | 53 | +92.453s | 0 |
| 18 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 19 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | 52 | +1 lap | 0 |
| 20 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 51 | +2 laps | 0 |
| NC | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 30 | DNF | 0 |
| NC | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas F1 Team | 20 | DNF | 0 |
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