Kimi Antonelli brought out the safety car at the right time to win the Japanese Grand Prix and take the lead in the F1 World Championship for the first time in his career.
Antonelli, who had dropped from pole position to sixth on the opening lap after Mercedes’ poor start, was running fourth ahead of his only pit stop at Suzuka, before a big stroke of luck turned the race in his favor.
Oliver Bearman’s heavy crash brought out the safety car, as the trio in front of Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Charles Leclerc had already pitted, allowing Antonelli to stop sooner, giving the Italian the lead on the restart.
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Olly Bearman walks away after a huge crash, ending his race in Japan, leaving Kimi Antonelli in the lead and Lewis Hamilton in fourth.
From there he drove flawlessly, showing great pace throughout the second half of the race, finishing 13 seconds ahead of Piastri, who led McLaren’s much improved performance.
Russell expressed his displeasure over the radio over his bad luck, but in the end he had to settle for fourth place behind Leclerc as he battled with the Ferrari in the closing stages.
Antonelli’s nine-point advantage over Russell makes the 19-year-old the youngest driver to lead a world championship in the history of the sport, a record Lewis Hamilton had held since he first topped the rankings in 2007 at the age of 22.
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Oscar Piastri took the lead at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix as pole sitter Kimi Antonelli and Mercedes teammate George Russell fell back.
Following the cancellation of races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia as a result of ongoing conflict in the Middle East, F1 is currently on a five-week hiatus until the next race in Miami, meaning the Italian will remain in the lead until at least May.
Antonelli said: “It’s feeling pretty good! Of course it’s too early to think about the championship, but we’re moving in a good direction.”
“It was a bad start. We need to see what happened. Then we were lucky to be in the lead with the safety car, but the pace after that was unbelievable.
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Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli has won back-to-back Japanese GPs, becoming the youngest driver in history to lead an F1 title race.
“It was really great. The car felt really good in the second stint. I’m very happy.”
Reigning world champion Lando Norris overtook Hamilton in the closing stages to take fifth place, contributing to McLaren’s improved performance.
Pierre Gasly continued his strong start to the season by fending off a nearly race-long challenge from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to claim seventh place for Alpine.
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George Russell furious at Toto Wolff on Mercedes team radio!
Liam Lawson also benefited from the safety car, finishing ninth from 14th on the grid for Racing Bulls, while Esteban Ocon took the final points for Haas.
Haas confirmed that Bearman survived an X-ray on his right knee, but the 20-year-old Briton appeared to be in pain as he limped away from the accident.
F1 returns from May 1-3 with the Miami Grand Prix, the second sprint weekend of the season, being broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
