Kimi Antonelli won his second race in succession with victory at the Japanese Grand Prix and became, at 19, the youngest driver to lead the world championship, beating a record previously held by Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes driver, also the first teenager to win back-to-back races, finished ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who were second and third respectively, while fourth-placed George Russell lost ground in the intra-Mercedes battle.

At the start, both Mercedes cars again dropped back from the front row, with Piastri surging to the lead from third on the grid. Polesitter Antonelli dropped to sixth, while Russell went down to fourth. He quickly battled back to second using Mercedes’ superior race pace. But after passing Piastri once at Suzuka’s chicane, and Russell then falling behind the McLaren immediately in another example of the quickly-exchanging overtakes in 2026, the race at the front settled down.

Piastri seemed comfortable holding off Russell as Antonelli took significantly longer to reclaim the ground he lost at the start. He got to third when Ferrari’s Leclerc pitted on Lap 17 of 53, as the leaders entered the race’s only pitstop phase.

Piastri pitted on Lap 18 and Mercedes then held its cars out for longer. Russell stopped on Lap 21, with Antonelli closing in behind. But here the race’s key moment took place as Haas driver Ollie Bearman crashed heavily at the Spoon corner as he was caught out by a big, sudden closing speed to Alpine’s Franco Colapinto ahead.

Antonelli was able to stop with the race neutralized by the subsequent safety car activation and stay in the lead, with Russell left frustrated to suddenly be down in third. At the restart, Antonelli scampered clear and eventually won by a commanding 13.7-second margin.

Luke Smith, in Japan, and Madeline Coleman analyze the action.

How did Antonelli luck in to make history?

Antonelli arrived in Japan filled with confidence after scoring his maiden F1 victory in China two weeks ago, a race he’d controlled from the front of the pack.

But his second win came in far more unusual — and somewhat fortuitous — circumstances, cashing in on a mid-race safety car following Bearman’s huge crash to return to the lead after dropping from pole to sixth off the line.

The FIA Safety Car leads Andrea Kimi Antonelli. (Clive Mason / Getty Images)

Antonelli slowly picked his way back up the order with moves on Hamilton, Lando Norris and Leclerc, before jumping to the front of the pack after Russell, who was a couple of second ahead, pitted from the lead.

One lap later and Russell would likely have kept his advantage, but the timing of the safety car played straight into Antonelli’s hands. He could pit while the rest of the field slowed down, allowing him to retain first position.

It essentially ended the race. Antonelli nailed the restart and quickly built a gap to the chasing pack, while Russell — who’d fumed on the radio about his bad luck — slid behind Hamilton as well upon the return to green. After some back-and-forth passes with the Ferraris, Russell eventually crossed the line fourth.

Antonelli’s win not only acts as another shot of momentum in his early-season form, but it also underlines his credentials as a serious contender for this year’s world championship. Yes, there was fortune involved, but he seized the moment impeccably. It also led to a bit of history as he beat Hamilton’s previous record from 2007 when the now-seven-time world champion was 22.

Luke Smith

How did Oscar Piastri start so brilliantly?

Oscar Piastri finished on the podium for the first time this season. (Philip Fong / AFP via Getty Images)

McLaren has had a curious start to the season as Mercedes and Ferrari pulled ahead and created a healthy gap in the constructor standings over the reigning champions. Piastri failed to start either of the first two races this season, and Norris didn’t start the Chinese Grand Prix, leaving McLaren sitting just one point ahead of fourth-placed Haas.

As the Japanese Grand Prix weekend unfolded, the fortunes of the two drivers diverged. Norris faced issues throughout the practice sessions and headed into Sunday’s race without having done high fuel running, putting him on the back foot. He’s also on his third battery — the last one in his allotted amount. If the team has to change to a fourth sometime this season, he’ll face a grid penalty.

Meanwhile, Piastri looked “reasonably good” throughout the weekend, as he put it in the team’s post-qualifying recap, and ultimately qualified third.

Piastri had practiced starts throughout the weekend but hadn’t been able to do them in a live-race scenario yet in this regulation era. When the five lights went out on Sunday, he nailed it.

Antonelli may have reacted quicker than Piastri, but he didn’t accelerate quick enough. The McLaren zoomed into the lead and found himself leading the race. The question was whether he could maintain his position, given Mercedes’ pace as Russell and Antonelli picked their way through the field.

Piastri first found himself tangling with Russell, a bit of yo-yo-esque racing coming at one point as Russell took the lead under braking at the chicane only for the Australian driver to take it back into Turn 1 given he saved some of his battery. When he was over a second ahead of Russell, Piastri said at one point over the radio, “If we hold track position, I think we can hang onto this.”

And it looked like he could. As the first pit stops unfolded, Piastri held the net-race lead. But then came Bearman’s wreck, at a time when then-race leader Antonelli hadn’t pitted. The Mercedes driver essentially got a free pit stop, and Piastri was unable to catch him again. The final gap between the two was nearly 14 seconds, but second is a big step in the right direction.

Madeline Coleman

Max Verstappen’s weekend starts and ends with misery

Gone are the days of the Dutchman dominating Suzuka. Even his comeback in the 2025 title fight seems like a distant memory given how Red Bull is performing three races into the season with the new engine.

Max Verstappen has failed to qualify higher than eighth this season, which he did at the Australian Grand Prix, and last time out in China he didn’t score points in the sprint race and retired from the grand prix. It’s no secret Verstappen’s been critical of the new regulations, and that Red Bull has dropped back from the other top teams.

Coming into Japan, the team brought multiple upgrades, but the performance still didn’t improve. Verstappen qualified 11th, while teammate Isack Hadjar qualified eighth. Last year, Red Bull were strong in set-up changes and tweaking car variations from Friday to Sunday and unlocking more performance. But Verstappen said on Saturday: “A few parts of the car that are not working how they should be working, and that’s, I think, limiting us to even when you need just set-up changes, like we used to do in the past, it still doesn’t respond.”

Max Verstappen finished eighth. (Mark Thompson / Getty Images)

It painted a grim picture for Sunday’s grand prix. Would Red Bull even be the fourth-fastest car? After all, Alpine, Audi and Racing Bulls seemed strong, with all three teams having a driver in the top 10.

Verstappen managed to gain a position come the second lap, and he eventually found himself briefly battling Hadjar. At one point, the Dutchman said over the radio, “It feels like I’m driving without power steering. My steering rack is heavy.” In the end, he scored points and finished eighth.

Verstappen and Red Bull will benefit from the upcoming April break, which comes because of the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian GPs. It’ll give them a moment to reset and review the data without having to live react during a race weekend setting.

Madeline Coleman

Bearman’s horror crash will revive debate over closing speeds

Bearman’s terrifying crash may have impacted the result, it is also likely to be one of the lasting memories of this race, such was its severity.

The first TV footage of the accident showed Bearman’s Haas in the barrier at Spoon, which is one of the fastest points of the circuit. After he got out of his car, the camera showed Bearman gingerly walking away from the shunt and being aided by a marshal as he went behind the barrier.

Then came the onboard footage of the crash, which revealed what a horror shunt it was. He’d been gaining rapidly on Colapinto’s Alpine with a shocking difference in closing speed. According to Sky Sports pundit Bernie Collins, it was around 45 km/h. Colapinto moved slightly left, as did Bearman, who then ended up on the grass and, from there, passenger in the crash.

“He just had a huge closing speed against Colapinto, so he had to take avoiding action and he went on the grass and crashed,” said Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu on Sky, calling the accident “scary.” He added that he did not think Colapinto had moved late: “The main thing is just the closing speed I think, which was huge.”

Oliver Bearman walks back to the paddock after crashing iin the race. (Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP via Getty Images)

The impact was 50G, and Bearman was taken to the medical center for an X-ray which, thankfully, showed he suffered no fractures. He did, however, have a contusion on his right knee.

Drivers have been speaking for some time about concerns over the difference in closing speeds with these new cars. A situation like this, where Colapinto’s car was seemingly harvesting the battery and going slower, while Bearman was using his energy to close up, had been flagged as a potential issue. Now it’s happened.

Luke Smith

Race Results

1. Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
2. Oscar Piastri, McLaren
3. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
4. George Russell, Mercedes
5. Lando Norris, McLaren
6. Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
7. Pierre Gasly, Alpine
8. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
9. Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls
10. Esteban Ocon, Haas
11. Nico Hülkenberg, Audi
12. Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
13. Gabriel Bortoleto, Audi
14. Arivd Lindblad, Racing Bulls
15. Carlos Sainz, Williams
16. Franco Colapinto, Alpine
17. Sergio Pérez, Cadillac
18. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin
19. Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac
20. Alex Albon, Williams
    DNF Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
    DNF Ollie Bearman, Haas