Winners and losers from the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying

Kimi Antonelli tops PlanetF1.com’s list of Winners from qualifying in Japan, but who else features, and who has made the Losers list?

Here is PlanetF1.com’s full list of winners and losers from the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying.

Winners and losers from the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying

Winner: Kimi Antonelli

Two weeks after claiming his first pole position and race victory, Antonelli proved there was no fluke to his Chinese performance by repeating the feat at Suzuka.

It was a controlled display from the young Italian, who perhaps now is starting to find the self-belief within himself that he can absolutely take this title fight to his more experienced teammate.

It’s a huge ask for Antonelli at this early stage of his career, particularly given the level of consistency he’ll need to unlock against a driver as proven as Russell, but the extent of his advantage – three-tenths of a second – was one he admitted to being surprised by.

“With this regulation, it’s very easy to gain or lose three tenths, whatever the gap was,” he said.

“It’s really easy to gain and lose time, so it was the same for me in Melbourne. But, you know, he’s super quick, he’s been super quick around here, and we’ll see tomorrow in the race how we’re going to do.”

Having controlled proceedings in China after the opportunity of capitalising on Russell’s compromised qualifying in China arose, a similar scenario has now presented itself this weekend.

While Russell did get both laps in during Q3, the British driver appeared to be battling an unexpected malady with the car’s handling after a last-second setup change – perhaps an unwise choice given the lack of time to fetter the tweak.

“It was really odd, to be honest,” Russell said.

“We made a setup adjustment just going into qualifying ,and the car just did not feel the same as it has been the whole weekend.

“You saw my first laps in Q1; I was down in P7, P8, and we had to make a massive adjustment during qualifying with the front wing to adapt. The team has already had a look.

“We don’t know whether something incorrect was done or what happened, but I’m kind of glad again to be in this position because after Q1, I was like, ‘I’m not sure where we’ll end up’.

“It was just mainly through the Esses. I couldn’t attack any of the corners. The rear was trying to step out on me throughout.

“I’m sure we’ll try and see what happened. There’s not really anything we can do now, but as I said, it’s a good place to start for tomorrow, and it’s going to be a long race.”

It’s still very early days but, at a time when Russell’s experience aligns perfectly with the pace advantage Mercedes has, these races are when he needs to be stamping his authority on this championship.

With Antonelli only growing in confidence and belief, the Italian driver getting a sniff that the game is afoot could markedly change the complexion of the championship away from what Russell may have anticipated.

Loser: Max Verstappen

Fresh off the back of his weekend away at the Nurburgring last weekend, it was back down to Earth with a bump for Max Verstappen at Suzuka.

At one of his favourite tracks, it’s evident that the Dutch driver isn’t enjoying the handling of his RB22, with the four-time F1 World Champion running an upgrade package that, in his own words, “aren’t working”.

There’s not much by way of positivity for Verstappen to cling onto at present: If he was hoping the upgrades would prove the correlation issues that have plagued Red Bull in recent years have faded, it appears those hopes have sunk.

In a Red Bull car that seems midfield at best, Verstappen isn’t enjoying the driving ‘challenge’ of being required to drive more conservatively for faster laptimes, and Isack Hadjar is quietly getting on with things: the French driver has made it clear he also doesn’t enjoy the regulations but, with it all still to prove, is getting on with things.

Verstappen, who has nothing to prove, is having his head turned by alternative challenges away from F1, and the smile that was so evident last week in Germany has given way to an air of laissez-faire nonchalance at Suzuka.

Indeed, the Dutch driver’s attitude appears to be one of disappointment, rather than anger. Is that disappointment down to Red Bull’s state of competitiveness? It doesn’t appear so, as he has pointed to his enjoyment with working with his team, and there’s never been a sense before that Verstappen has ever given anything less than 100 per cent, regardless of the competitiveness of the machine under him.

His comments that he’s not mad, and that he’s “way beyond that stage” suggest a growing disillusionment with the entirety of Formula 1, his realisation that the new regulations actively hinder drivers like him who ‘hustle’, and that he will have to get used to the idea of lifting off to go faster.

Of course, this applies to all the drivers on the grid, but almost all of them – bar Hamilton – have not achieved what he has already. If Verstappen truly believes that the new formula no longer rewards drivers who can make a difference through speed, rather than management, then it’s very easy to see why he appears to be checking out.

It’s not unimaginable to think that Verstappen could do a Niki Lauda on it and simply choose to walk away mid-season, awaiting an opportunity again further down the line if and when F1’s regulations turn back from this rather bleak path.

Winner: Oscar Piastri

McLaren’s season is starting to look up a little, thanks to what team boss Andrea Stella said is being created by a greater understanding via collaboration with Mercedes HPP on the power unit side of things.

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were in the mix with the Ferraris, having been clearly beaten by the Scuderia at the opening two race weekends, and the Australian shrugged off the disappointment of not starting either race to clinch third place on the grid.

He explained his inability to improve on the final run in Q3 as being down to “trying too hard”.

“It is difficult to know because sometimes you feel like you do a better lap and you go faster through the corners, and you run into some problems with deployment,” he said.

“So, it’s not always that easy to understand why you make jumps in lap time and stuff like that. But yes, in my case, just trying too hard.”

“I mean, it’s nice to be closer, obviously. I think we’re learning more and more about the car and about the power unit every weekend.

“I think this weekend in Suzuka, let’s say being slower in the Esses than Mercedes is not necessarily a bad thing, which is weird to say.

“But yeah, I think we were saved a little bit by that. So, I think we’ve been more competitive in general, but we’re under no illusion that we’ve still got a pretty big gap to fill.”

Capitalising on Norris’ relative lack of track time, Piastri is in a prime position to finally kickstart his F1 2026 campaign and, while the MCL40 might not yet have the race pace to challenge Mercedes, there is scope for him to get in the mix – just how limiting will his lack of knowledge with these new cars in race trim actually be?

“You don’t know what you don’t know until you’re in the situation,” he said.

“So yeah, I’ve tried to learn as much as I can from watching the races and even through practice. There have been some interesting moments with cars at different speeds in different parts of the track.

“I overtook someone into Degner 1 yesterday, which was different. But yeah, you’re learning all the time and I think just the level of awareness you need is very high.

“But I think ultimately pace is going to be the thing that decides your result, and the start as well. Well, maybe not the start if it’s these guys around you, but yeah, we’ll see what we can do.”

Loser: Aston Martin

On Honda’s home race weekend, it’s difficult not to label Aston Martin as losers, given they’ve qualified last and second-last, even behind the brand-new team Cadillac.

But, with reliability being the focus and the introduced countermeasures being a limiting factor, there are some shoots of optimism coming from the Silverstone-based squad.

On Friday, Fernando Alonso reported that the vibrations that have plagued the car since it first came to life were “80 per cent” better in practice, with the car “feeling normal”, only for the vibrations to return on Saturday despite no reason for them returning.

With vibrations, rather than reliability, being the limiting factor for Alonso in Shanghai, the target for Aston Martin is to get one, if not both, cars to the chequered flag on Sunday for the first time this year.

According to Alonso, despite the lack of satisfaction he’s getting from being so far off the pace, there are signs that the reliability is no longer as great a concern and, indeed, he pointed to the AMR26 having “huge potential” in time.

“There’s definitely, definitely a very, very huge potential on the car, on the engine as well,” he said.

“I think we made progress since Bahrain, you know, in terms of deployment, in terms of understanding some of the drivability issues, now we are in a much better position.

“We still need to fix the vibrations, and we still need to fix the power deficit. There are fundamental things that they are still on the back foot, but they are working flat out. We just need time and to be patient on track.”

Winner: Pierre Gasly

After getting in the mix in the mid-points places last time out in China, it looks like more of the same from Pierre Gasly this weekend.

The Alpine driver had been mired in the lower half of the pack in practice but, thanks to “finding solutions” overnight, was given the “best car he’s had all weekend” for qualifying, and he promptly put in a 1:29.691 to snatch P7 and, once again, ahead of the Red Bulls.

Suzuka, in Gasly’s words, represents a big test for the current Alpine package, particularly with what he deemed a “punchy” setup direction, and the results that are coming are a morale boost for the entire squad.

As his return to Toro Rosso showed in 2020, Gasly is capable of pumping in regular strong finishes if the car is under him and, now that the A526 is a clear step forward on the troubled machine from last season, it looks as though the French driver is starting to pick up that rhythm once again.

As for Franco Colapinto, the Argentine driver is driving at Suzuka for the first time in F1, and was open about not getting as close to the potential of the car as Gasly managed. Revealing that he’s happier with the feeling of the car on high-fuel, keep a watch out for him climbing from his P15 grid slot.

More from the Japanese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton claims Mercedes ‘party mode’ 2.0 explains qualifying dominance

Lando Norris calculates straight-line deficit as McLaren chases Mercedes power answers

Loser: The F1 2026 regulations

After the Chinese Grand Prix showed lukewarm signs that these new regulations aren’t a complete disaster, Japan has fully brought back into focus just how poorly conceived the power unit regulations really are.

It’s a shame really – the new aero and chassis regulations are proving immense, with the cars looking great, following with ease, and clearly still capable of great laptimes as Antonelli’s pole time is just 1.8 seconds off last year’s.

But the nature of how the laptime is achieved is all rather flaccid compared to years gone by. As Lando Norris worded it, “it hurts the soul” feeling the cars going slower and slower in a straight line, having had to sacrifice corner speed in order to maximise the acceleration onto the straight in the first place.

F1’s greatest differentiator against other top-level categories has been in achieving cornering speeds of mind-blowing speeds, a challenge that pitted man and machine against all the others, with the bravest drivers usually rewarded.

But now, as Charles Leclerc explained, those moments of bravery actively hinder by punishing drivers with having lower levels of energy deployment available for the straights, which does far more damage than the time that they may have gained through the corners.

Essentially, F1 has evolved so that, in qualifying, the fastest drivers are punished, while those who drive within themselves can produce faster laptimes.

It’s a sad state of affairs, and it’s producing a disappointing, milquetoast competition of seeing which driver can harvest the most energy through the twisty bits in order to go quicker down the straights.

The F1 2026 regulations have hobbled the fastest drivers and placed all the emphasis on controlled, contrived patience; a lowering of the collective benchmark that means all the drivers are brought down a notch, rather than encouraging the superhuman.

But at least we’re getting lots of those back-and-forth overtakes, right?

Winner: Audi

Two Audis in the top 10 was entirely possible, had Nico Hulkenberg not tripped himself up with what he deemed a “cheeky lock-up” on his final run.

It left the German driver knocked out in 13th place, having looked very capable of making it into Q3 when he placed sixth in the first part of qualifying.

Gabriel Bortoleto picked up the mantle to show what could have been, as the Brazilian, who had matched Hulkenberg’s pace almost exactly in Q1, made it into Q3 to take ninth place.

The R26 is proving competitive at a track where its fast and flowing nature is playing to Audi’s strengths, Hulkenberg explained, but the isolated disappointment of his result is evidence of just how well Audi has started the year.

Having lost its team boss after the Chinese Grand Prix, Audi could very well have done without that distraction given its a team still very much in its infancy under the German manufacturer’s rule, but there are no obvious warning signs emerging from the opening weekends to suggest that Mattia Binotto and the now-departed Jonathan Wheatley haven’t set Audi up for a decent season.

Indeed, the power unit is proving comparatively reliable, and Audi’s experience with hybrid power units from the World Endurance Championship appears to be translating well to its F1 efforts.

The performance of the car appears distinctly midfield, if not upper-midfield, and, together, it appears Audi, at the first time of asking, has a neat and tidy package to start this new regulation cycle.

Winner: Arvid Lindblad

Not shown on the live feed, the rookie driver climbed out of his Racing Bulls machine after making it into Q3 and taking 10th place, before patting the Halo of the car and leaning down to ‘kiss’ it (he still had his helmet on).

“I think we’ve done a brilliant job today,” Lindblad said. Not the usual self-effacing attitude most British drivers take, but an inarguable fact from the youngster after coming out on top against both teammate Liam Lawson and stablemate Max Verstappen.

Indeed, it was Lindblad’s final lap in Q2 that knocked the four-time F1 World Champion out of qualifying, which he was completely nonplussed by, “it doesn’t really bother me who I knock out”, and, considering he’d lost track time by sitting out FP2 and missing some of FP3, it was a consummate display from a driver in only his third race weekend.

“I wasn’t particularly confident coming into quali, just because I was so on the back foot, and I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy session,” he said.

“But I think the job I did was really Mega. I think that my guys on my side of the garage have done an amazing job to give me a car that I had a lot of confidence in with so little mileage.

“So, yeah, I’m very, very thankful to them, very proud of the job I did, because I think we put the car in a position where I’m not sure it belongs.”

Q3, he said, did have some room for improvement, saying he felt there was a little more time on the board – time he may have found had he not had his first laptime deleted for exceeding track limits, requiring a little breathing room on his last attempt.

After scoring points on his debut, Lindblad is showing why Red Bull had confidence in him for 2026 and is delivering upon that promise.

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