Piastri had surged into the lead at Suzuka from third on the grid, sweeping past both Mercedes of Antonelli and George Russell before Turn 1, and controlled the race through the opening stint ahead of the pit stop phase.

However, a crash for Oliver Bearman on Lap 22 proved perfectly timed for Antonelli, with the resulting Safety Car allowing the 18-year-old a free stop.

That vaulted him from fourth to the lead, securing his second win of the season and handing him the championship lead for the first time in his career, making him the youngest driver ever to lead the Formula 1 drivers’ standings.

The Italian finished 13.7 seconds clear of Piastri, who was named Driver of the Day, while Charles Leclerc secured the final podium spot in third for Ferrari.

 

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Antonelli said he was pleased with the victory and, despite becoming the first teenager to lead the Formula 1 drivers’ championship, dismissed talk of the title as premature.

“It’s too early to think about the championship, but we’re in a good way,” he said.

“The race I had a terrible start. Definitely will check what happened.

“But then I was lucky with the Safety Car to be in the lead. But then the pace was just incredible. And it was a really nice second stint.

“I felt very good with the car and very pleased with that.’

He added that there were still areas to address with Mercedes’ starts, with the team struggling in each race so far to hold onto their grid-leading positions off the line.

“I mean, luckily I have three weeks so now I can practice some clutch drops just to get a better feel with it because definitely it’s been a weak point so far this year,” he added.

“And yeah need to improve that because you can easily win or lose races with that.”

Piastri said finishing second should be seen as a win for McLaren, despite the disappointment of not being able to hold onto the lead following the Safety Car period.

“Turns out we’re alright once we get to start!” he joked after the race.

“It would have been really interesting to see what would have happened without that [Safety Car]. I think I could keep George behind, and just before the stops we were actually pulling away a little bit again.

“A shame that we never got to see what would have happened. But I think for us at this point to be disappointed about finishing second is a pretty good place to be.

“So a massive thanks to the team. I think we did a really good job of executing with what we had.

“I think we clearly still need to find a bit of performance. But yeah, we took every opportunity we had today.”

 

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Leclerc, meanwhile, also spoke of the Safety Car affecting his race, adding he did everything he could to try and catch Piastri ahead.

“It was a bit off a sweaty one this one,” he said.

“Obviously with the Safety Car we got a little bit unlucky. So from that moment onwards, I knew I was a little bit on the back foot. Especially compared to Kimi and Lewis.

“But then I was like, okay, let’s keep pushing. Let’s try to keep those tyres and bring them to the end. And actually it wasn’t as much of a disadvantage as I thought.

“The tyres were actually pretty good the few laps that I had done wasn’t so bad. It’s just that we lost a few positions and then, yeah.

“It was quite a fun race. Just not quite enough to get Oscar. But yeah, it was a cool race.”

Having not started a race in the new era of F1 cars, Piastri showed no signs of rustiness with a storming launch from third on the grid, sweeping into the lead before Turn 1.

With Antonelli slow off the line, the McLaren driver darted to the left of the pole sitter to surge ahead, with his start also allowing him to clear second-placed Russell. Behind them, Leclerc also capitalised to vault both Mercedes and move into second.

Piastri was able to maintain his early advantage over Leclerc by more than a second and a half, with Russell making his way past the Ferrari on Lap 4 as he set about chasing down the Australian.

The Mercedes driver made his first real move on Lap 8, forcing his way past Piastri into the chicane to take the lead, but was swiftly re-passed into Turn 1 on the following lap, with Piastri managing his energy deployment more effectively to maximise straight-line speed.

Piastri continued to hold Russell at bay by over a second through the opening stint, even suggesting over the radio that positions could remain unchanged if the pace remained consistent.

Behind them, Antonelli dropped to sixth after his poor start, recovering to fifth by passing the Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton on Lap 2 before moving past Lando Norris for fourth on Lap 12.

In a near carbon copy of the earlier exchange between Piastri and Russell, Antonelli passed Leclerc into the chicane on Lap 15, only to be immediately re-passed into Turn 1 on the next lap, as Leclerc clung to the final podium position.

The Ferrari driver eventually pitted on Lap 18 for hard tyres, rejoining in seventh ahead of Norris, who had stopped a lap earlier.

Piastri made his stop on Lap 19, rejoining in sixth with clear air ahead as Russell pushed in an attempt to execute the overcut on the Melburnian, although the Briton soon admitted over the radio that the strategy was unlikely to succeed.

That proved to be the case, with Russell pitting on Lap 22 and emerging behind Piastri, while also covering off Leclerc and Antonelli behind, just before the Safety Car was deployed following Bearman’s crash.

The British driver had been attempting to pass the Alpine of Franco Colapinto approaching Spoon, moving to the left of the Argentinian before running onto the grass and sliding heavily into the wall, climbing from his Haas with a visible limp.

The 20-year-old was taken to the medical centre after the crash, which Haas confirmed was a 50g impact, with X-rays showing no fractures.

 

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The Safety Car ultimately handed the advantage to Antonelli, who pitted on Lap 23 and rejoined in the lead ahead of Piastri and his team-mate Russell, the latter audibly furious over the radio at the timing of the interruption.

Five laps later, green flag racing resumed, with Antonelli maintaining his lead over Piastri, while Hamilton made his way past Russell for third into Turn 1.

With Antonelli pulling clear at the front towards his second career win, his team-mate Russell endured a torrid afternoon at Suzuka, unable to get past Hamilton before dropping behind the second Ferrari of Leclerc on Lap 38 to fifth.

He was eventually able to move back up to fourth in the closing stages, passing Hamilton on Lap 43, with the seven-time world champion having been overtaken by his team-mate a lap earlier in another closely fought Ferrari battle.

Leclerc had called to be let past over the radio, saying “we are losing a bit of time”, before forcing his way past Hamilton into Turn 1 on Lap 42 to claim the final podium spot, with Hamilton eventually dropping back behind Norris in the closing stages to finish the race in sixth.

Russell had a late attempt to get past Leclerc, taking the Ferrari in the favourite overtaking spot of the afternoon into the chicane on Lap 50, before then being repassed in the second favourite spot into Turn 1 by Leclerc around the outside.

Behind them, Norris had a relatively quiet afternoon, bringing his McLaren home in fifth, with a late battle against Hamilton eventually working out with the reigning world champion moving past on the penultimate lap.

The pair finished ahead of the Alpine of Pierre Gasly, who enjoyed a solid race to take seventh and secure six points for the French team.

Max Verstappen fought back after a difficult qualifying to take eighth, one place ahead of Liam Lawson, who also moved forward from his starting position to claim his second consecutive points finish.

Esteban Ocon was involved in a late-race battle with the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar, but was able to hold on to the final points-paying position, securing his first points of 2026.

With the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix in April, Formula 1 now heads into an extended break before returning for the Miami Grand Prix from May 1–3.

Results: Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, Race