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An early charge by the first-time 2026 starter Oscar Piastri wasn't enough to stop Kimi Antonelli from his second GP win Sunday evening in Suzuka. Antonelli faded to sixth at the start of the race and battled back to the race win.
At the end of the 53 laps Antonelli beat the field by more 13.722 seconds, and with two Grand Prix victories to his teammate George Russell's one moves into the driver championship lead.
"It feels pretty good!" Antonelli said on the start of the season. "It's too early to think about the championship but we are in a good way. I had a terrible start, and we got lucky with the safety car, but I have three weeks now to practice some starts. It has been a weak point."
Piastri took the lead from third at the start with Lewis Hamilton following suit, but it wasn't sustainable with Charles Leclerc taking third instead. George Russell, who was following qualifying and racing speed, should've been in the lead, but found himself stuffed further back in the top five.
After Antonelli's rebound, Piastri settled in for second place after his two DNS's to start the year. Leclerc finished in third place to complete the podium.
Russell finished fourth, off the podium for the first time in 2026. Russell was followed by reigning champion Lando Norris as McLaren starts to find their footing with a double top-five after a bad start to the season.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, Alpine's Pierre Gasly, Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Racing Bulls Liam Lawson, and Haas' Estaban Ocon completed the top ten.
Related StoriesVictoria Beaver is a nomadic sports writer who spends her time hopping between race tracks and hippie farms. She’s covered every corner of motorsports that will let her in from 410 Sprints to NASCAR to Supercross. Her daily driver is a 2010 Subaru that she refused to do the smallest amount of preventative maintenance on. Instead, she spends her free time and money building a 42-foot Skoolie to one day travel the country full time.
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