SUZUKA, Japan — Two weeks and one race after the first victory of his Formula 1 career, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli got his second win at Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old Italian, whose rookie F1 campaign in 2025 yielded a personal-best finish of third twice, has been on the podium in every grand prix so far this year, finishing as the runner-up to teammate George Russell in the season-opening Australian GP on March 8 in Melbourne before winning the Chinese GP in Shanghai a week later.
Antonelli, who started in pole position (just as he did in Shanghai) finished a comfortable 13.7 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the Suzuka circuit in central Japan on a clear, sunny spring afternoon, where Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the podium.
Russell was fourth, reigning F1 champion Lando Norris of McLaren was fifth, and seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton of Ferrari was seventh. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was sixth, with Max Verstappen (Red Bull), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Esteban Ocon (Haas) completing top 10 who earned points in the championship standings.
When he won in China, Antonelli became the second-youngest grand prix winner in the international open-wheel circuit’s history, behind Verstappen, who was 18 when he won the 2016 Spanish GP.
Antonelli, whose 72 points after three races have him nine ahead of second-place Russell with Leclerc third at 49, is the youngest in F1 history to lead the season drivers’ standings.
“It’s too early to think about the championship, but we’re in a good way,” Antonelli said. “I got a terrible start, I just need to check what happened. Definitely, it’s bee a weak point this year, and I need to improve that because you can easily win or lose races with that.”
Russell started second alongside Antonelli, but neither driver for Mercedes got a great start, with Piastri beating both to the first turn and holding the early lead.
However, Antonelli and Mercedes again showed they have mastered the 2026 car configuration, which features a 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical-battery power.
The cars are also lighter, narrower and shorter than last season, with many drivers complaining about the new regulations that represent the most radical changes in a decade.
Antonelli was sixth after the first lap but clawed his way back. He had the lead on the 22nd lap when Hass driver Oliver Bearman lost control and hit a tire barrier, triggering the safety car.
Bearman limped out of his car but was reported later to be in good shape by medical officials.
Antonelli said he got a bit “lucky” with the caution.
“I don’t know what would have happened, what the outcome would have been without the safely car,” Antonelli said. “But that definitely made life a lot easier.”
Piastri also wondered what might have been, but he acknowledged Mercedes probably had too much pace.
“It’s a shame we never got to see what would have happened, but for us at this point to be disappointed about finishing second — is a pretty good place to be.”
Piastri did not even start the season’s first two races. He crashed on a warmup lap prior to his home race in Australia, and both McLaren cars failed to start in China due to electrical faults.
“I think this weekend we just did a really good job of optimizing what we had,” Piastri said. “We just nailed everything. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough for the win. But at the moment, a result like today is as good as a win.”
Hamilton went all last season, his first for Ferrari after a long run with Mercedes, without a top-three finish but he managed third place in China for a record-extending 203rd F1 podium finish. He was close to another one in Japan, showing the Ferrari is much more competitive.
The next step will be adding another grand prix victory to his record total of 105, and the 41-year-old British driver certainly isn’t counting out that or even more.
“I’ve not lost what I had,” Hamilton said this past week in Japan.
Formula 1 now takes a five-week break, with races scheduled for April in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia called off earlier this month because of the war in Iran. The next race is the Miami GP on May 3, the first of three races this year in the United States.