Kimi Antonelli has taken the lead of the World Drivers’ Championship after taking the win at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri made the most of his first race start of the season as the lights went out, launching past both Mercedes cars to lead the race heading into turn 1, ahead of Leclerc whose Ferrari has been notable for how strong their starts have been this season.
Pole sitter Antonelli had a horrible start to the race, not only ceding positions to Piastri and Leclerc, but also to Norris, Russell and Hamilton as he dropped to 6th place by the end of the first lap.
Antonelli wouldn’t stay in 6th for long though, beginning his fight back to the front with an overtake on Hamilton down the start-finish straight to take 5th at the start of lap 2.
Russell was also making his way back through the field as he tried to claim top spot for himself, managing to pass Norris with relative ease on lap 3 in order to climb up to 3rd, before then overtaking Leclerc just one lap later to take 2nd place, with his sights now set on Piastri for the lead.
Antonelli was having a tougher time with making his way back through the field though, getting stuck behind Norris for a number of laps, only managing to overtake the McLaren driver on lap 11, in which time Russell had briefly gotten himself up to the lead, though Piastri was able to quickly take the position back.
Piastri had begun to pull away from Russell as some of the leading cars began to pit, with Norris coming in on lap 17, while Leclerc would pit on lap 18 and Piastri himself on lap 19, trying to give himself the best possible opportunity to win this race.
Russell would respond with a pit stop on lap 22, but the timing could not be worse as the safety car would come out just moments after he left the pit lane. This was due to a crash from Ollie Bearman, who lost control after taking to the grass in order to avoid a collision with Franco Colapinto, who Bearman had closed in on at a rapid speed.
The safety car was quite the gift for Antonelli and Hamilton, the two drivers in the fastest 3 teams who had yet to pit, with it meaning that Antonelli would retake the lead of the race while Hamilton was back out in 4th.
But he wouldn’t stay in 4th for long, as Hamilton was able to overtake Russell for 3rd place immediately after green flag racing resumed. Leclerc would soon be able to join Hamilton in being ahead of Russell after the Mercedes driver had a sudden loss of power, but was able to carry on.
Just like in Shanghai, the two Ferrari cars were having a close fight with each other over 3rd place, with Hamilton initially having the upper hand by fending off Leclerc’s attacks, before eventually being overtaken on the start-finish straight.
Russell would soon find himself ahead of Hamilton, who had begun to ask questions about the battery deployment in his power unit. Hamilton would eventually finish the race in 6th place, after being overtaken by Norris in the dying laps.
The battle for third place would rage on for much of the closing stages of the race, with Leclerc doing all he can to fend off Russell. It had seemed as though Russell had finally claimed 3rd place for himself after an overtake into the final chicane, but Leclerc had harvested enough energy to retake the position immediately heading down to turn 1, maintaining the spot on the podium for the remainder of the race.
After the safety car, Antonelli would have a comfortable run to the end of the race in first place, never being challenged by Piastri in 2nd.
The result means that Antonelli now holds the record for youngest driver to lead the F1 World Drivers’ Championship, as well as becoming the first person to win multiple F1 races as a teenager.
Following the cancellation of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the next race will be the Miami Grand Prix, which will take place on May 3rd as the second sprint race weekend of the season.
