Italian leads Mercedes teammate Russell by nine points
Oscar Piastri second for McLaren in first race of season
Kimi Antonelli won the Japanese Grand Prix ultimately dominating the second half of the race and with it the 19-year-old has become the youngest driver to lead the Formula One world championship. It was another remarkably confident drive for Mercedes from the youngster as he beat the McLaren of Oscar Piastri into second with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari. However, George Russell’s title ambitions took a minor blow as he finished only fourth.
Lando Norris was fifth for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton sixth for Ferrari. Max Verstappen, who has struggled with a difficult car all weekend, could mange only eighth.
Antonelli had been lucky with the timing of a safety car affording him a free pit stop after Britain’s Oliver Bearman suffered a major crash from which he was lucky to emerge from his Haas car largely uninjured. Having already come back after dropping to sixth from pole when the lights went out, once the Italian had the lead he was all but untouchable and completed another consummate victory, his second in a row.
