Antonelli takes the championship lead after sprinting to victory in Japan over Piastri and Leclerc
Kimi Antonelli leads the Drivers’ Championship after winning the Japanese Grand Prix, beating Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.
Kimi Antonelli has won the Japanese Grand Prix, becoming the championship’s youngest leader after a dominant drive to his second consecutive victory over Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc following an earlier Safety Car.
When the lights went out at the Suzuka Circuit, Piastri made an incredible start, taking the lead into Turn 1 while the Mercedes cars drifted backwards. The Silver Arrows pair quickly went on a recovery effort, with George Russell challenging the McLaren driver for the lead but failing to make a move stick.
As some drivers began to pit, including leaders Piastri and Russell, a massive crash for Haas’ Ollie Bearman brought out the Safety Car on Lap 22, allowing Antonelli, who had yet to pit and was temporarily in the lead, to visit the pits and reemerge in first place.
From there, the youngster executed a smooth restart to maintain P1 and open up a significant lead, crossing the line 13.722 seconds ahead of Piastri, with the win also propelling him to the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings, making him the youngest driver in history.
Piastri finished his first race of the season in style, taking McLaren’s first podium of the season in second place, while Leclerc held off a following Russell to take third.
This forced Russell to settle for fourth, having already expressed his dissatisfaction with the timing of the Safety Car, while McLaren’s Lando Norris took fifth after a close battle with Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages, with the Ferrari driver finishing sixth.
Pierre Gasly finished sixth for Alpine, having to defend hard against chasing Max Verstappen for much of the race’s second half. The Red Bull driver finished eighth, 0.337 seconds behind, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Haas’ Esteban Ocon rounding out the top ten.
Nico Hulkenberg of Audi finished 11th, just missing out on points, ahead of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar in 12th and Gabriel Bortoleto of Audi in 13th. Arvid Lindblad of Racing Bulls finished 14th, followed by Carlos Sainz of Williams and Franco Colapinto of Alpine in 15th and 16th place, respectively.
Sergio Perez led the Cadillacs in P17, followed by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas’ sister Cadillac, and Williams’ Alex Albon, who made six pit stops during the race.
Two drivers retired from the event, with Lance Stroll being forced to return his Aston Martin to the garage due to a suspected water pressure issue. Bearman’s crash eliminated him from contention; however, the Haas team later announced that the Briton had sustained no fractures during the 50G event.