Kimi Antonelli took his second win in succession and the lead of the world championship after being gifted victory in the Japanese Grand Prix by a safety-car period.
The 19-year-old Italian had not yet made a pit stop, while his rivals for victory McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Mercedes team-mate George Russell had, when Oliver Bearman’s Haas crashed heavily.
That gave Antonelli a pit stop that cost him less time than the others and ensured he could retain the lead.
A frustrated Russell, who finished fourth behind Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, said over the radio “unbelievable” as he realised Antonelli would beat him for the second consecutive race.
Antonelli becomes the youngest driver in history to head the championship and leads his team-mate by nine points.
The key stories of the final race heading into the five-week break before the Miami Grand Prix were:
- The lucky break that gave Antonelli victory
- An improved performance from McLaren that could have seen Piastri win without the safety car
- The crash that led to the safety car, in which Bearman incurred a 50G impact and suffered a right knee contusion
How safety car benefited Antonelli
The incident that turned the race on its head occurred on lap 22.
Bearman had a significant overspeed on Franco Colapinto’s Alpine, with whom he was contesting 17th place, as they approached the Spoon Curve.
As the Briton closed rapidly, Colapinto drifted from the racing line on the outside towards the centre of the track.
In taking avoiding action, Bearman got on to the grass on the inside and lost control, spinning across the track and smashing into the barrier on the outside at the entry to the corner.
Haas later said he was doing 191mph when he lost control and hit the barrier having lost almost no speed.
Bearman climbed out gingerly, limping and holding his knees, before being taken to the medical centre, where he had an X-ray before being released.
Before that crash, the win looked to be between Piastri and Russell.
Antonelli made a slow start and dropped to the back of the top six as Piastri swept into the lead, and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris also passed Russell.
Piastri held the lead confidently as Russell moved past Norris and Leclerc into second place by lap four.
Russell tracked Piastri within a second for several laps and then overtook him into the chicane on lap eight, only for the McLaren to move back past down the pit straight at the start of the following lap.
Russell was never as close again and Piastri’s confidence began to build, and he got on to the radio to his team to say he felt that he could hold on to the win if they could keep him in the lead through the pit stops.
Leclerc started the pit stop period on lap 17, Piastri following him in a lap later and Russell three laps after that.
Piastri was proved right as Russell came out of the pits behind the McLaren. Meanwhile, Antonelli – who had moved past Hamilton but no further after the start – cycled up into the lead.
Bearman’s crash happened almost straight afterwards and Russell immediately knew the consequences as he saw the safety car signs alight around the track.
Piastri lost out, too, on what could have been a victory had he managed to hold on ahead of Russell, as the rest of the race suggested he would have.
But a second place finally gets the Australian’s season off the ground, and gives McLaren their first 2026 podium, after he had failed to start the first two races.
Russell drops back to miss podium
At the restart, Antonelli quickly built a lead over his pursuers as Piastri managed to stay a couple of seconds clear of a scrap between the Ferraris and Russell, with Hamilton, who also benefited from the safety car, passing his former Mercedes team-mate at the restart.
Russell lost that place because he hit the harvest limit early, which meant he was not recharging into the chicane so had less energy for the restart.
He could not get through on Hamilton and then things got worse for him when the engine went into an unexpected recharge session before Spoon Curve on lap 37 and Leclerc was able to pass.
Leclerc then passed Hamilton with a daring move around the outside of the first two corners on lap 42 and Russell moved past the seven-time champion down the pit straight the following lap.
Russell challenged Leclerc for the remaining 10 laps and did make it past into the chicane with three laps to go.
But Leclerc swept back past the Mercedes with his signature move around the outside of Turn One at the start of the next lap to secure the final podium position.
A fourth place for Russell leaves the pre-season favourite with plenty to ponder as he heads into the break enforced by the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix as a result of the US/Israeli war with Iran.
Hamilton was left to fend off Norris. They swapped positions on lap 47/48, with Norris driving past into the chicane and Hamilton driving past again on the pit straight as their engines were at different stages of battery level.
Hamilton hung on for a few laps before Norris finally took fifth place for good with two laps to go.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was best of the rest in seventh, fending off the uncompetitive Red Bull of Max Verstappen, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Haas’ Esteban Ocon.
At the back, there was a breakthrough of sorts for Aston Martin as they finished a race for the first time.
Fernando Alonso, in the week that marked the birth of his son, was 18th, managing to fend off the Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas.
Aston Martin and Honda have plenty of work to do to improve their form, both with car and engine, after it emerged this weekend that of their four-second or so gap to the front, more than half is down to the chassis’ deficit, regardless of the attention that has been focused on the Honda engine’s lack of performance and reliability.
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