2026 #JapaneseGP: Kimi Antonelli Wins at Suzuka, Makes #F1 History.

Antonelli Japanese GP Victory – Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli recovered a horror start and took advantage of a safety car to pit and dominated from there to take a solid second victory of his career at the Japanese GP by 13.722 seconds over McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who came home second and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who completed the top three after an intense final battle with Mercedes’ George Russell.

 

 

Antonelli became the youngest championship leader in Formula 1 history after winning the race and the first Italian driver to win consecutive Grand Prix since Alberto Ascari in 1953.

 

The man from Bologna holds a nine-point-gap over Mercedes team-mate Russell in the World Driver’s Championship standings (72-63) as the sport takes a pause for five weeks before heading to the Miami Grand Prix.

 

When the 53-lap Japanese GP began, pole-sitter Antonelli got a slow start as Piastri jumped to the lead as Leclerc climbed into second as they raced towards turn one.

 

Russell also had a bad start and dropped down to fourth, whilst Antonelli fell down to sixth behind Hamilton.

 

The beginning of lap two Piastri held a 1.2 second lead over Leclerc with Norris third, Russell fourth, Antonelli up into fifth passing Hamilton with Straight Mode into turn one, Gasly seventh, Lindblad eighth, Hadjar ninth as Verstappen completed the top ten.

 

Further back, Verstappen picked off Hadjar for ninth place – Lindblad was next up for the Dutchman. Ocon was all over the back of Hadjar now.

 

Lap three, Russell breezed his way past Norris to take third place as Antonelli pushed to the rear of the McLaren.

 

On the fourth lap, with Straight Mode, Russell on the charge made a move on the inside passing Leclerc on the rundown to turn one to jump into second place.

 

Antonelli was crawling all over the back of Norris down in fifth place – he could not give his team-mate too much of a lead here if he wants to challenge for the win later on, assuming Piastri cannot hold on.

 

The fifth lap saw Piastri’s lead down to 1.3 seconds with Russell second, Leclerc holding third, Norris fourth, Antonelli fifth, Hamilton sixth, Gasly seventh, Lindblad eighth, Verstappen ninth whilst Ocon completed the top ten.

 

Verstappen made his way in-front of Lindblad to take eighth place from the Briton.

 

Replays showed Antonelli had a dreadful start – similar to what happened in Melbourne and the Chinese Sprint. The Italian dropped like a stone, and Russell’s was not much better. Piastri was able to just pull to the outside and stream past the two Silver Arrows – with Antonelli getting some wheelspin based on Piastri’s onboard.

 

Lap seven – Russell was just 0.6 seconds back from Piastri. That being said, Norris was holding Antonelli at bay.

 

Leclerc was 2.1 seconds behind this battle, with Norris, and Antonelli behind for company.

 

Further back on the eighth tour – Gasly started seventh and he was running seventh too for Alpine, Verstappen was 4.5 seconds back in eighth ahead of Ocon and Lindblad – that Haas had some decent race pace.

 

Bearman was up to 15^th after starting 18^th.

 

Russell made the overtake on the inside of Piastri into the Casio Triangle Chicane to take the lead, before the Australian got the Mercedes driver back on the main straight to reclaim the lead on the beginning of lap nine as further back – Norris had a look on Leclerc for third, but the latter kept the McLaren at bay.

 

The tenth lap saw Piastri’s lead at 0.8 seconds over Russell with Leclerc holding up Norris and Antonelli with Hamilton in sixth, Gasly seventh, Verstappen eighth, Ocon ninth as Lindblad rounded out the top ten runners.

 

Lap 11 – Russell seemed to be biding his time and working out how best to attack race leader Piastri, without immediately getting re-passed.

 

Whilst those two played cat and mouse, Leclerc remained less than a second clear of Norris and Antonelli, meaning his two rivals both have access to ‘Overtake’ mode at this stage of proceedings.

 

In the fight for fourth, Antonelli made a move on the inside of reigning world champion Norris into the Casio Triangle Chicane to snatch fourth place from the Briton – The Chinese GP winner now with Leclerc in his sights.

 

The 13^th tour – Another handful of laps to come before the pit-stop window opens. But Piastri’s tyres do not look great, despite the new track surface here leading supposedly to less graining.

 

Race leader Piastri was told to look after his front left tyre at this stage. He was 0.9 seconds ahead of Russell, who in turn was 2.6 seconds in-front of Leclerc.

 

Lap 14 saw Antonelli having a look on Leclerc on the rundown to turn one, but the Ferrari driver kept the door shut on the 19-year-old Italian.

 

The 15^th lap – Antonelli once more had a look on the Ferrari into turn one with Leclerc covering the Mercedes driver again to hold on.

 

Later on, Antonelli made the move like on Norris into the Casio Triangle Chicane on Leclerc and passed the Monegasque driver – however on lap 16, Antonelli suffered a snap out of the final corner and Leclerc re-passed the Mercedes to grab the place back.

 

On lap 17 – Norris was the first to pit from fifth on lap 15 for his fresh set of harder compounds and emerged in ninth place behind Ocon.

 

Bearman also pitted and came out in 19^th behind Perez.

 

Leclerc was told to box on lap 18 for his fresh set of hards releasing Antonelli as the Ferrari driver crucially covered off Norris (who picked off Ocon) to be in seventh place and behind Verstappen.

 

Lap 19 saw Piastri pit from the lead releasing both Mercedes to put on a fresh set of the C1’s and emerged in sixth place ahead of Leclerc.

 

The 20^th tour – The yet-to-pit Mercedes of Russell and Antonelli holding the top two places, Hamilton third, Gasly fourth, Verstappen fifth, Piastri sixth, Leclerc seventh, Norris eighth, Lawson ninth as Bortoleto rounded out the top ten.

“I think I’m going to lose a lot of race time extending,” Russell said on the radio.

 

With straight mode on the main-straight, Piastri made use of his fresh rubber and breezed ahead of Verstappen on the run down to turn one to move up into fifth place.

 

Russell boxed on lap 22 from the lead to put on a fresh set of hards to came out behind Piastri in fifth.

 

Further back, it showed Haas’s Oliver Bearman into the barriers bringing out the safety car.

 

Antonelli, Hamilton and Gasly also dived into the pits for their fresh set of harder rubber along with Verstappen, Lawson, Bortoleto and Sainz.

 

The order behind the safety car was Antonelli, Piastri, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Hulkenberg (the only driver still to pit), Lawson, Bortoleto, Ocon, Hadjar, Lindblad, Sainz, Colapinto, Albon, Perez, Stroll, Alonso and Bottas.

 

Replays showed Bearman come up behind a slow moving Colapinto and had to take avoiding action. The Briton took to the grass, lost control and spun across the track into the barriers.

 

Bearman was out of the car, but he was limping away with the help of some marshals which was not such a great sight. We hope he is okay.

 

The race situation on lap 24 – Antonelli did pit, and he had returned in the lead so this race had come back to him. Piastri was second ahead of a very frustrated Russell, who was rueing his luck there having pitted one lap before the deployment of the Safety Car.

 

Hamilton had jumped Leclerc thanks to his stop under the Safety Car, with Norris dropping to sixth place.

 

Gasly, Verstappen, Hulkenberg and Lawson were also in the top 10 – but Hulkenberg was the only driver yet to stop. Then the German came in, which promoted Audi team-mate Bortoleto back into the top 10.

 

The 26^th tour – The track was being swept, as the marshals seeked to clear any shards of carbon fibre, given Bearman did spin across the track.

 

Bottas had just pulled to the front to unlap himself, whilst the two Aston Martin entries had pitted twice so were back on the more favourable C2 yellow-branded medium tyres.

 

And somehow despite everything, Antonelli – who started on pole – was back in the lead of the Grand Prix.

 

When the safety car came in and the race went green on lap 28 – race leader Antonelli booted it out just before the final corner and came out with a brilliant launch out the Casio Triangle Chicane to fly ahead of Piastri.

 

A touch back – Hamilton with Straight and Overtake Mode overtook Russell on the pit-straight to add to the Briton’s woes to move up into third place.

 

Antonelli’s lead was at 1.5 seconds over Piastri with Hamilton third, Russell fourth, Leclerc fifth, Norris sixth, Gasly seventh, Verstappen eighth, Lawson ninth as Ocon completed the top ten.

 

The 30^th tour – The two former Red Bull team-mates were fighting for seventh, Verstappen was crawling all over the back of Gasly’s Alpine. But Gasly was defending the inside line and refusing to be intimidated from the four-time world champion.

 

As for their team-mates, Hadjar was 12^th and Colapinto down in 16^th place.

 

Lap 31 – Aston Martin’s Stroll was the second retiree of the race being wheeled into his garage at engine supplier Honda’s home Grand Prix.

 

“The car ahead keeps going off,” said Hamilton, about Piastri in second. That is a not so coded message for the stewards, as the Briton aimed for a second straight podium.

 

The 32^nd tour – There was some good news coming out of Haas – Bearman had been assessed in the Medical centre, he was conscious and alert. There were no fractures from the initial x-rays, but there is “a right knee contusion” from the impact that was recorded at 50G.

 

The 33^rd lap – Antonelli lead by 3.6 seconds over Piastri, who was leading earlier on before the pit- stops. Hamilton was 0.9 seconds back in third place, Russell a further 0.7 second behind his former team-mate in fourth and Leclerc still had Overtake Mode in fifth place. Norris had fallen back and looked to be in for a lonely race at this stage of proceedings.

 

Lap 34 – Gasly was managing to keep Verstappen at bay, those two separated by seven tenths in the battle for seventh. Lawson and Ocon were the others in the points, the Haas driver recovering after pitting before the Safety Car and thus lost out.

 

He had picked off Bortoleto, whose race pace was not quite as sharp as his Qualifying pace.

 

The 35^th lap – Race leader Antonelli was looking very composed. Despite dropping down the order at the start, the Mercedes driver was one of those fortunate to jump ahead by pitting the lap the Safety car emerged. His luck came at the expense of his team-mate Russell, who was stuck in fourth behind Hamilton – the Ferrari driver also benefitting from the timing of the Safety Car.

 

All of which left Antonelli leading Piastri by over five seconds.

 

Stroll reported to the media that his Honda-powered AMR26 entry suffered a suspected water pressure issue that caused his retirement.

 

The 37^th tour – Russell was half-a-second behind Hamilton, but he just could not find a way through his former team-mate. Hamilton was far enough back from Piastri to not have Overtake but even so, he was doing a brilliant job defending.

 

And Russell slowed down, allowing Leclerc to jump into fourth place – Russell suddenly found his pace again and started to fight back against the Ferrari.

 

The 39^th lap – Race leader Antonelli looked clean and gone, as long as his tyres do not fall off the cliff – he was over seven seconds ahead of Piastri. Hamilton was 1.2 seconds behind the McLaren, but then followed Leclerc and Russell, both of whom were within seven tenths of the car in-front.

 

Lap 40 – Antonelli was in-front by 7.8 seconds. He was lapping over half-a-second faster than Piastri and had just posted a new fastest lap.

 

His tyres were 17 laps old, four laps fresher than Piastri’s.

 

The 41^st lap – Leclerc reported to tell the team he was losing time behind team-mate. And with that, he made a move – but Hamilton slammed the door shut.

 

All of which was music to Russell’s ears, who needed these two to fight, as that might be the Mercedes driver’s only opportunity to get past.

 

On lap 42 in the battle for third, Leclerc had half-a-look into the chicane, pulled out of it, and used Overtake down the main-straight and got Hamilton into turn 1.

 

And now Hamilton had Russell all over his rear wing – Hamilton was lacking a tiny bit of pace at this stage, perhaps working through some graining on the harder tyres.

 

The 43^rd tour – Antonelli lead Piastri by over 10 seconds, and Leclerc was 2.5 seconds behind the McLaren.

 

Behind them came Russell, and he flew past Hamilton on the straight. The seven-time world champion not happy at this stage as Russell moved up to fourth place.

 

Lap 44 – Hamilton had lost so much pace, Norris was right on his tail having been a couple of seconds off.

 

Out-front – Antonelli set another fastest lap to increase his lead to over 11 seconds.

 

The 45^th lap – Antonelli had checked out, but Piastri was just two seconds in-front of Leclerc, who in turn was only 0.9 seconds ahead of Russell.

 

Hamilton was 1.5 seconds behind his former team-mate, with Norris just seven tenths behind the Ferrari.

 

Overtake mode then for Russell and Norris.

 

Lap 46 – Hamilton locked-up last time around at the Casio Triangle Chicane and ran over the apex – Norris immediately radioed to say he should give the position up.

 

The 47^th tour – Antonelli’s lead was growing and growing. His team-mate was having a harder time of it, as he desperately tried to find a way past Leclerc for third. Norris likewise was struggling to pick his way past Hamilton.

 

Further back, Albon had been told to pit from 17^th for a set of softs, as Williams seeked some front wing data to help them understand their FW48.

 

Norris after flying through 130R made a move on the inside of Hamilton into the Casio Triangle Chicane to jump into fifth place – only for Hamilton to snatch the place back from the reigning world champion on the main-straight.

 

Lap 49 – Antonelli was told to look after the car and “bring it home” – with his lead a commanding 13 seconds.

 

Further back – Verstappen had finally picked off Gasly for seventh place – but the Alpine driver was fighting back.

 

The 50^th tour – Antonelli posted another fastest lap with the lead at 13.5 seconds.

 

On the 51^st lap – Both Russell and Norris made their way ahead of both Leclerc and Hamilton at the Casio Triangle Chicane – But the two Ferrari’s made their way back in-front to hold third and fifth respectively.

 

On the penultimate lap – Norris made the move on Hamilton at the final chicane again – this time made the move stick to take fifth place.

 

Antonelli crossed the line to take his second successive victory of the season at the Japanese GP as Piastri came home second as Leclerc covered off Russell to complete the podium.

 

Norris finished fifth and ahead of Hamilton who settled for sixth.

 

Gasly just held off former team-mate Verstappen to place seventh as RB’s Liam Lawson and Ocon rounded out the final points’ places.

---

2026 Japanese GP – The Top Three

 

 

2026 Japanese GP Winner – Andrea Kimi Antonelli, #12, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W17 – (25 Points):

“It feels pretty good! It is still early to think about the Championship but we are in a good way. A terrible start, I need to check what happened but the Safety Car helped. A good second stint, I felt good with the car. I have a few weeks, so I can practice some clutch drops as it has been a weakness this year. We were lucky with the Safety Car, but on the hard the pace was incredible. Definitely made my life a lot easier!”

 

2^nd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL40 – +13.722s – (18 Points):

“Would have been really interesting to see what would have happened without [the Safety Car]. A shame to not see what would have happened. But a massive thanks to the team, we did a good job executing with what we have.”

 

3^rd Place – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF-26 – +15.270s – (15 Points):

“With the Safety Car we got unlucky, so I was on the back foot, and I just had to bring the tyres to the end, but the feeling was not that bad. It was a fun race, just not enough [time] to get Oscar.”

---

Formula 1 Aramco Japanese Grand Prix 2026 Race Results Classification (53 Laps)

 

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

* Provisional results.

 

FORMULA 1 ARAMCO JAPANESE GRAND PRIX 2026 – RACE RESULT

 

Click here for the 2026 FIA Formula One World Driver’s (Top 10) and Constructor’s Championship Standings

 

Round four of the 2026 FIA Formula One World Championship returns to the Miami International Autodrome in Miami, Florida, United States of America for the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2026 from Friday May 1-Sunday May 3.

---

@MercedesAMGF1’s #Antonelli Takes Stunning Pole At 2026 #JapaneseGP Qualifying. #F1