Antonelli wins in Japan after huge crash for Bearman brings out Safety Car

Kimi Antonelli became F1’s youngest-ever championship leader as he recovered from a slow start off the line, took advantage of a Safety Car, and won the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.

Oliver Bearman was the one who brought out the SC when he crashed heavily at Spoon and was seen limping away from his stricken car, unable to put weight on his right leg. Haas reported, “no fractures – a right knee contusion following the impact.”

Kimi Antonelli youngest F1 championship leader Japan win

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For the first time this season, all 22 cars lined up on the grid with Kimi Antonelli on pole position ahead of George Russell, and the Aston Martins on the final row with Fernando Alonso ahead of Lance Stroll. The entire field, except for Valtteri Bottas on the hard Pirellis, started on the medium tyres.

Oscar Piastri, from third on the grid, made an epic start to storm ahead of Antonelli, who was bogged down on the line. Charles Leclerc was up to second with Lando Norris also on the charge around the outside at Turn 2.

Russell dropped to fourth ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Antonelli. The Audis had poor starts, as Gabriel Bortoleto dropped to 13th and Nico Hulkenberg dropped to P19.. Max Verstappen made up one place to run 10th.

Antonelli began to claw his way back through the field, a great pass into Turn 1 as he powered past Hamilton. Verstappen overtook Isack Hadjar for ninth, but the new Red Bull signing wasn’t letting it go and came back at his teammate. He lost out in that battle.

The Mercedes charge continued with Russell as he overtook Norris at Turn 1 on Lap 3 before pulling a similar move on Leclerc a lap later. He was 1.7s behind race leader Piastri. Antonelli, though, was stuck behind Norris for several laps. The McLaren driver also had overtake mode as he was right on Leclerc’s rear wing. Verstappen overtook Arvid Lindblad for eighth.

Russell grabbed the lead off Piastri on Lap 8, powering his W17 past the fellow Mercedes-powered car with ease. Piastri was back ahead through Turn 1 on Lap 9. Behind them, Leclerc, Norris and Antonelli were wing-to-wing. Antonelli finally overtook Norris on Lap 11, diving past at the chicane. His efforts to take third away from Leclerc were rebuffed.

15 laps in, the top ten were Piastri, Russell, Leclerc, Antonelli, Norris, Hamilton, Gaasly, Verstappen, Esteban Ocon and Lindblad. Piastri reported: “If we hold track position, I think we can hang onto this.”

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Norris was the first driver to pit, pulling in on Lap 17 for a set of hard Pirelli tyres. Leclerc was told to “box” in response, and returned to the track ahead of the McLaren driver. Piastri was the next in, back out a good five seconds ahead of Leclerc.

Russell pitted from the lead on Lap 22… and out came the Safety Car. Oliver Bearman crashed at Spoon, his Haas in the barrier but facing the wrong way. Bearman came up behind a slower Alpine and put wheels on the grass to avoid the car. He skidded over the grass and went hard into the barrier. The Haas driver limped away from his stricken car.

Antonelli and Hamilton immediately dived into the pits. “Unbelievable,” screamed Russell. The marshals had a job to clear the debris as Bearman took out several marker boards.

The running order for the top ten at the restart on Lap 28 was Antonelli, Piastri, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Lawson and Bortoleto. Antonelli made a good start while Russell lost out to Hamilton.

Stroll retired his Aston Martin AMR26 on Lap 31, told to box as the team had noticed an issue with the car. Haas, meanwhile, issued an update on Bearman, “50G impact – has had x-ray at Medical Centre. No fractures – a right knee contusion following the impact.”

At the front, Antonelli pulled clear of Piastri, putting tenths between them lap after lap. The McLaren driver had Hamilton hunting him down with Russell on his former teammate’s rear wing. Leclerc was also in the fight for the podium. Russell was overtaken by Leclerc on Lap 37, the Mercedes appearing to suddenly lose power into Turn 1 which allowed the Ferrari driver to make an easy pass.

Leclerc told Ferrari he was “losing a bit of time” as he sat behind Hamilton. He tried to pass the Briton into 130R but had the door slammed shut. He hounded his teammate, allowing Russell to close up on the rear of the squabbling Ferraris. Leclerc made a third attempt into Turn 1 on Lap 42 and this time made it stick. Russell made short work of Hamilton a lap later.

With 10 to go, Antonelli led by 10s ahead of Piastri, who had Leclerc 2.5s behind him, with Russell, Hamilton and Norris separated by two seconds. Gasly had Verstappen right behind him, but the Red Bull driver wasn’t able to close the final tenths. Lawson and Ocon were running in the points.

Norris reported to McLaren that Hamilton needed to “give the position” after Hamilton locked up, run wide and stayed ahead of him. The stewards noted the incident, but ruled no further investigation. Norris overtook Hamilton into the last chicane, only for Hamilton to come back at him at Turn 1.

After several laps of hounding Leclerc, Russell made a move on Lap 51 with Leclerc back at him. Norris and Hamilton also traded blows. Norris and Hamilton wasn’t over, the McLaren driver passing his compatriot down main straight and into Turn 1.

Antonelli clinched the race victory, his second in as many races, with Piastri and Leclerc joining him on the podium. Russell was fourth ahead of Norris and Hamilton.

Gasly was sixth having held off Verstappen, with Lawson and Ocon completing the points.

Japanese GP Result

1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +13.7
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +15.2
4 George Russell Mercedes +15.7
5 Lando Norris McLaren +23.4
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +25.0
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine +32.3
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull +32.6
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +50.1
10 Esteban Ocon Haas +51.2
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +52.2
12 Isack Hadjar Red Bull +56.1
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +59.0
14 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls +59.8
15 Carlos Sainz Williams +65.0
16 Franco Colapinto Alpine +65.7
17 Sergio Perez Cadillac +92.4
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1 lap
19 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac +1 lap

Did not finish

Lance Stroll Aston Martin – water pressure
Oliver Bearman Haas – crash

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