Antonelli takes victory and championship lead in Suzuka from Piastri and Leclerc
- Meghana Sree
- 6 hours ago
- 5 min read
Kimi Antonelli took a dominant win at the Japanese Grand Prix after benefitting from a Safety Car, becoming the youngest championship leader with his second consecutive victory. Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc complete the podium with George Russell settling for fourth.
Kimi Antonelli becomes Formula One's youngest championship leader with his latest win, taking victory by nearly 15 seconds at the Japanese Grand Prix, while Oscar Piastri converted his first race start of the season into a second place finish.
A Safety Car after Oliver Bearman took a 50g hit into the barriers changed the narrative of the race mid-way, George Russell losing out on a shot for the win, while Charles Leclerc managed to keep the Mercedes at bay in the latter stages of the race to take his second podium of the season.
Here's how an exciting afternoon in Suzuka panned out.
Race Report
After a delayed start due to barrier repairs, the race got underway at 06:10 BST, with all the cars on the medium compound barring Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas.
As all 22 grids launched off the grid, polesitter Kimi Antonelli had a poor start, dropping down to sixth with George Russell in second also dropping a place, Oscar Piastri taking the lead of the race.
Charles Leclerc slid into second while Lando Norris made up two places from fifth. Antonelli quickly began to recover, making up a place to Lewis Hamilton, while further back, the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar were being attacked by Esteban Ocon, who moved up to 10th after passing fellow Frenchman Hadjar.
On Lap 3, the top 10 was occupied by Piastri, finally taking a race start this year, Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Antonelli, Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, Arvid Lindblad, Verstappen and Ocon.
The following lap, Russell made an easy pass on Leclerc for second through the first corner, while Antonelli lingered behind in fifth.
Meanwhile, another driver who had lost positions at the start was Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto, losing six positions from ninth. Further ahead, Verstappen began making moves up the field, sailing past junior team rookie Lindblad for eighth.
At the front of the field, a battle for the lead between Piastri and Russell was gaining traction, the Mercedes driver within a second of the Australian. On Lap 8, Russell took the lead into the chicane, but Piastri quickly re-took the lead down the start-finish straight.
On Lap 11, Antonelli made up another position, this time on Norris through the chicane to take fourth and making it stick. His next hurdle was Leclerc, as he lined up within a second of the Ferrari driver but was unable to make the move sooner than preferred.
Meanwhile, Piastri seemed confident of a win over the dominant Mercedes pair, stating over the radio: “If we hold track position, I think we can hang on to this.”
Antonelli finally made the pass on Leclerc on Lap 16, but Antonelli left the door open for Leclerc who re-took third into the first car.
The first to pit of the afternoon was Norris on Lap 17, who rejoined the track in ninth ahead of Lindblad and Hadjar who were engaged in an intense private tussle for points — Lindblad being noted for moving under braking with a black and white flag.
Leclerc took his stop on Lap 18, and crucially rejoined ahead of Norris. That same lap, the race leader peeled into the pits for a high-stakes stop. Piastri managed to cover off Leclerc, finding himself sixth on the hard tyres with all the drivers ahead of him yet to stop.
Up front, Russell was leading the race from Antonelli, while Piastri remained the net-race leader, something the Mercedes crew was well-aware of. Piastri then cleared Verstappen, taking fifth, while Russell bit the bullet and boxed on Lap 22 to cover off Leclerc.
Everything changed that lap when Bearman took a heavy hit into the barriers, a whopping 50g impact at Spoon while chasing Franco Colapinto, bringing out the Safety Car much to Russell’s frustration.
Antonelli, Hamilton and Gasly took a cheap pitstop under the Safety Car, while Russell was left rueing his horrible luck.
On Lap 25 of 53, still under the Safety Car, the top 10 saw Antonelli, Piastri, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Lawson and Bortoleto — all drivers now having made their stops.
The Safety Car pulled in on Lap 27, as Antonelli took us back to green flag racing, as Hamilton quickly pounced on Russell for third, the Mercedes driver caught napping at the re-start.
Meanwhile, Lance Stroll became the second retirement of the day with an issue. Out on track, the battle for the podium spots ramped up, as Antonelli continued to build his lead.
Further back, Gasly and Verstappen were battling for seventh, the Red Bull driver within a second of the Frenchman but still not close enough to make the pass. The second Red Bull driver, Hadjar, made a pass on Bortoleto for 11th, with Ocon ahead his next target to get into the points.
Up in the top five, Russell’s afternoon became even more bleak as Leclerc cruised past him, the Ferrari driver now back in the hunt for a podium up against his teammate Hamilton.
As Leclerc brought the fight to Hamilton, Russell rejoined the fight for third along with the two Ferraris who were once again going wheel-to-wheel with a hair’s breadth between them.
Leclerc slipped past Hamilton through the first corner, and with 10 laps to go, Russell too made a similar move on his former teammate for fourth.
It was now a straight fight for third between Leclerc and Russell, while Piastri in second was now 11 seconds behind Antonelli and at risk of dropping back into the scuffle between Leclerc and Russell.
On Lap 46, Hamilton was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 16 through the chicane, Norris also immediately flagging it to his team and stating that the position needs to be given back.
Leclerc and Russell were still battling, with differing deployment levels, but Leclerc managed to have the edge over the Mercedes driver.
Meanwhile, Hamilton’s incident was dismissed with no further investigation. With three laps to go, Antonelli had eked the gap to 13.5 seconds in the lead.
Elsewhere, Russell passed Leclerc through the chicane but Leclerc swiftly re-took the position through Turn 1. Norris meanwhile took fifth from Hamilton, and managed to make the move stick this time.
Antonelli soon took a dominant victory by nearly 15 second, becoming the youngest ever championship leader, with Piastri and Leclerc completing the podium, Russell managing fourth and Norris rounding out the top five.
Hamilton, Gasly, Verstappen, Lawson and Ocon were the final points-scoring drivers in Suzuka, the Alpine driver taking seventh after defending from Verstappen all throughout the race.
Find full results here.
Championship Standings
The top story out of Suzuka is Antonelli inheriting the championship lead from Russell, the Briton now nine points behind his teammate on 72 points. Leclerc, Hamilton and Norris round out the top five, with Piastri's podium now vaulting him up to sixth.
Meanwhile in the Constructors' standings, the top three remain Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, with Haas still hanging on to fourth as Red Bull's struggles continue, tying them with Alpine on 16 points while Verstappen drops down to ninth in the Drivers' standings.
Up Next
After the Saudi Arabian and Bahrain rounds were called off, F1 now has an impromptu month-long break, with the next time we’ll have cars on track being 1st to 3rd May in Miami.
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