Kimi Antonelli Secures Second Straight Win at Japanese Grand Prix

Kimi Antonelli delivered another standout performance to win the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, securing his second consecutive victory and moving into the lead of the Drivers’ Championship. He’s now the youngest ever driver to lead the WDC.

The Mercedes driver recovered from a poor start to take control of the race and eventually finished over 13 seconds clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. At the start of the race due to lack of control over the clutches Kimi took a second longer than Piastri to accelerate into the first corner, which cost him a lot of track positions.

Poor Start, Strong Recovery

Starting from pole for the second race in a row, Antonelli made a slow getaway and dropped to sixth as Piastri surged into the lead ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

However, the Italian quickly began his recovery, passing Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris before closing in on the leading group.

Russell, had a relatively strong start and was overtaking cars constantly before the safety car.

Strategy and Safety Car Turn the Race

The pivotal moment came when a Safety Car was deployed after Oliver Bearman crashed heavily at Spoon Curve.

Due to clipping on Franco Colapinto‘s side a dangerous situation unfolded and Bearman had to try avoiding a crash, but he slid on the grass, drove into signs and eventually into the barriers.

The race footage showed Bearman barely walking with the help of marshals. Haas later reported that he did not sustain any heavy injuries.

Reportedly, Bearman suffered an acceleration force equaling 50G during the crash, which is close to 4,000kg, taking into the account that he’s the tallest driver on the grid, thus his body weight should be around the minimum weight of an F1 driver in the car – 82kg.

To understand better the force of impact, here is former F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo’s reaction to Max Verstappen experiencing 51G force:

Antonelli benefitted from pitting at the right time, emerging back in the lead, while Russell lost out after stopping a lap earlier.

From the restart, Antonelli controlled the race, pulling clear as his rivals battled behind.

Battles Behind the Leader

Piastri held on to second place to claim his first Grand Prix finish of the season, while Leclerc secured third after fierce duels with Hamilton and Russell, who had to settle for sixth and fourth.

Norris fought his way past Hamilton late in the race to take fifth, with the Ferrari driver finishing sixth after struggling with pace in the closing stages.

Further back, Pierre Gasly impressed again by finishing seventh, overtaking Max Verstappen late on, as the Red Bull driver continued to struggle for performance. For most of the race Verstappen got stuck behind Gasly and could not overtake the Alpine driver.

Verstappen also reported having trouble with his steering wheel.

Commanding Finish

Despite being told to «bring it home», Antonelli continued to set the fastest laps in the closing stages, underlining his dominance.

He crossed the line comfortably to seal victory, capping off a near-perfect weekend aside from his slow start.

Piastri took the award for the funniest man on track with his:

“When we start these things, we are pretty good!”

Fernando Alonso also managed to finish his first race of the season with Aston Martin, even though his teammate Lance Stroll had to retire the car early.

Top 10 – Japanese Grand Prix

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

Antonelli’s back-to-back wins confirm his emergence as a genuine title contender, with Mercedes firmly establishing themselves as the team to beat early in the season.