Kimi Antonelli Wins in Japan to Become F1's Youngest Championship Leader

SUZUKA, Japan. Kimi Antonelli won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, his second straight victory, and took the lead of the Drivers' Championship. The Mercedes driver beat Oscar Piastri of McLaren by 13.722 seconds, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari.

Antonelli became the youngest driver in history to lead the standings. He moved to 72 points, nine clear of teammate George Russell.

"It feels pretty good," Antonelli said. "Of course it's still early days to think about the championship, but we're on a good way. In the race, I had a terrible start, I just need to check what happened, but then I was lucky with the Safety Car to be in the lead. Then the pace was just incredible and it was a really nice second stint."

Piastri leads, then the Safety Car

Antonelli started from pole (opens in a new tab), but Piastri made a stunning start to take the lead into Turn 1. Leclerc moved up to second, while both Mercedes cars slipped back, Russell to fourth and Antonelli to sixth.

Russell recovered quickly and challenged Piastri for the lead, briefly getting ahead into the final corner on Lap 8 before Piastri took the spot back at Turn 1. Antonelli passed Lando Norris on Lap 11 but could not get by Leclerc.

Norris, Leclerc and Piastri made their stops, and Russell pitted on Lap 22. Moments later Ollie Bearman crashed heavily at Turn 13 in his Haas, bringing out the Safety Car. Antonelli, who had not yet stopped, pitted and came out still in the lead. Russell voiced his frustration about the timing on the radio.

Haas later said Bearman suffered no fractures in the 50G impact, though he had a right knee contusion.

A clean restart

The Safety Car came in on Lap 27, and Antonelli restarted cleanly while Russell lost a place to Lewis Hamilton. Antonelli steadily pulled away from there.

Leclerc passed Hamilton on Lap 42 to take third. Russell then got by Hamilton and attacked Leclerc with two laps left, but Leclerc went around the outside at Turn 1 to keep the final podium place.

Piastri's second place was his first Grand Prix finish of the season and McLaren's first podium of the campaign. Norris was fifth after a late fight with Hamilton, who was sixth.

The rest of the order

Pierre Gasly held off Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing for much of the second half and finished seventh for Alpine, just 0.337 seconds ahead. Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls was ninth, and Esteban Ocon took his first points of the season in 10th for Haas.

Nico Hulkenberg of Audi was 11th, ahead of Isack Hadjar, Gabriel Bortoleto, Arvid Lindblad, Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto. Sergio Perez was the lead Cadillac in 17th, followed by Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Alex Albon, who made six pit stops. Lance Stroll retired with a suspected water pressure issue.

The calendar now breaks during April, with the season resuming at the Miami Grand Prix on May 1 to 3.

For more, see Formula 1's race report (opens in a new tab).

This was Round 3 of the 2026 season. It came after Kimi Antonelli's maiden win in China and before Antonelli's Miami Grand Prix win. For the full title picture, see our 2026 F1 standings breakdown.

Sources: Formula 1. More Formula 1 coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Sebastian Kawka / Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team