Despite a poor launch at the start, Kimi Antonelli took advantage of a mid-race safety car to claim his second consecutive race win in Japan on Sunday (March 29), giving him the lead of the driver’s championship for the first time in his career.
“It feels pretty good,” Antonelli said following the race. “Of course, it’s still early to think about the championship, but we’re in a good way. The pace was incredible, it was a very good second stint, and I felt very good. Now I have three weeks to practice some race starts, because I really need to improve that.”
Oscar Piastri, having led the early stages of the race, finished in second place, a victim of the safety car timing. Charles Leclerc was third, closely followed by George Russell, who also fell foul of the safety car.
Lando Norris finished fifth, having another close battle with Lewis Hamilton in sixth.
Yet another very close battle was fought between Pierre Gasly in seventh and Max Verstappen in eighth, the latter impressed by Alpine’s pace.
Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top 10.
For the second consecutive race, Kimi Antonelli started from pole position and was joined on the front row by the sister Mercedes of George Russell.
In a sign that McLaren is beginning to get on top of their Mercedes power unit, Oscar Piastri lined up in third place and was no doubt hoping to finish a full race for the first time in 2026.
Charles Leclerc started from fourth, the same position as the previous two races, giving him another opportunity to take advantage of Ferrari’s impressive launches.
When the lights went out, the McLaren of Oscar Piastri was the surprise off the line, passing both Mercedes to take the lead into the first corner. World Champion Lando Norris also moved into third place, with Charles Leclerc in second.
Kimi Anotnelli had a terrible launch, falling back into fifth place, behind George Russell in fourth.
By the start of the fourth lap, Russell had moved into second place, having passed both Norris and Leclerc in the previous two laps. Piastri was only 1.6 seconds ahead.
Unlike the first two races of the year, early lap overtakes were less numerous, but the Mercedes still looked significantly faster than either the McLarens or the Ferraris. Most notably, the McLarens appeared to be slightly faster than the Ferraris, suggesting that they have, indeed, started to understand their Mercedes power unit.
At the end of lap 8, George Russell lunged through the chicane to take the lead from Oscar Piastri. However, Piastri fought hard down the main straight to retake the lead.
With 13 laps completed, Piastri was holding a gap of around one second to George Russell, further indicating that McLaren has significantly improved performance.
Leclerc was almost three seconds adrift of Russell and was being challenged by Antonelli in his Mercedes, who passed the Ferrari through the chicane, but was repassed by the Ferrari down the main straight.
Lando Norris was the first of the top 10 runners to take to the pits for fresh hard tires on lap 17, and he was followed by Leclerc one lap later.
Meanwhile, Piastri was sniffing a potential race win, telling his team that he felt he had the measure of Russell’s Mercedes. He was called into the pits on lap 18, while Russell stayed out, taking the lead of the race.
Russell stopped for new tires on lap 21 and rejoined the track almost 2 seconds behind Piastri.
Shortly after Russell’s stop, Ollie Bearman’s Hass spun into the barriers, and George Russell knew that he had just missed a free pit-stop, exclaiming “unbelievable” on his team radio.
Antonelli and Hamilton had not yet stopped and took advantage of the safety car to claim several positions. Antonelli was now in first place, and Hamilton in fourth.
With 26 laps completed, Bearman’s Haas was the only car that had retired from the race, indicating that reliability for these all-new 2026 cars is improving.
The safety car ended on lap 27, and Antonelli did not make the same mistake twice, jumping out to a 1.2-second lead by the end of the straight.
Russell was caught napping at the restart, Lewis Hamilton passing his old team mate to take third position.
Running in clean air, Antonelli’s Mercedes quickly opened a gap of almost three seconds to Piastri, suggesting that the silver arrows still have an advantage when they’re in front.
As lap 35 began, things behind the leader had settled into what looked like a stalemate. Piastri was a little over one second ahead of Hamilton, with both Russell and Leclerc following closely behind.
Of all the front-runners, Russell looked the most likely to gain a position, but an unknown problem on lap 37 caused his Mercedes to briefly lose power, allowing Leclerc to take fourth place.
Having passed Russel, Leclerc set his sights on his teammate, closing to within one second and challenging through the chicane on laps 40 and 41. The second attempt was ultimately not successful, but Leclerc had a better launch onto the main straight and finally got past on the first corner.
Several corners later, Russell also managed to pass Hamilton, who was complaining of reduced power in the straights.
Further down the field, Verstappen was running in eighth position, less than one second behind Gasly. Verstappen commented to his pit wall, “These Alpines are quick.”
Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls was running in ninth, and Esteban Ocon’s Haas in 10th.
At the front, Antonelli had stretched the gap to more than 13 seconds, making it look like another comfortable win for the young Italian.
Piastri also looked comfortable in second place, but the battle between Leclerc and Russell for the final podium place was still raging.
At the end of lap 50, Russell managed to pass Leclerc through the Chicane, but Leclerc had more battery power down the straight and made a brave pass into the first corner to retake the place.
Meanwhile, Antonelli kept his composure to take a second consecutive win and lead the championship for the first time in his career. Piastri finished second to complete a very positive weekend for the Australian.
As the final lap began, Russell was still within striking distance of Leclerc, but the Ferrari held on to finish third.
With the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia cancelled, we now have a one-month break until the Miami Grand Prix on May 3.
