Kimi Antonelli leads winners and losers as Japanese Grand Prix shifts momentum

Two in a row as Kimi Antonelli is the big Winner from the Japanese Grand Prix, but who else features, and who is on the Losers’ list?

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

Winners and losers from the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix

Winner: Kimi Antonelli

The breakthrough came in China, but Japan underlined just how much Antonelli appears to have raised his game this season.

Winning pole position in a more straightforward battle with George Russell was a big statement to follow on from his Chinese win, following which the young Italian spoke about how it had been a clean session in which he kept “improving and improving”.

It all crumbled apart at the race start when he made a bad start, even worse than the poor one Russell made, and it very much placed the young Italian on the back foot as he fell back as far as sixth place.

But Antonelli picked himself up and set about recovery: passing Lewis Hamilton was a breeze, while Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc gave him a little bit more of a headache. But, by Lap 20, Antonelli was just three seconds behind Russell in a Mercedes 1-2 (Oscar Piastri pitted from the lead on Lap 18), despite the British driver having recovered through the competition a little quicker.

From there, of course, fortune did play its part – Russell’s stop came a lap before the Safety Car, while Antonelli benefited from its intervention just a few moments later.

It gave Antonelli the impetus against Russell and gave him track position over Piastri. From there, he simply never looked back again as he pulled out a 15-second advantage by race end.

It led Andrea Stella to suggest that Antonelli, not Russell, was the Mercedes driver that had looked the stronger of the pair, due to this pace, as Russell had got stuck behind Piastri.

Antonelli reflected on how he believes he’s taken a “big step” forward from his rookie season, as he’s putting the pieces together with these early building blocks in the 2026 championship.

“Experience does a lot,” he said.

“Obviously, last year I’ve gone through a lot, and it taught me massively; more than what I anticipated, and for sure it’s helping so far this year.

“Of course, there’s still a lot of work to do, but I definitely feel much more in control of the situation. The car helps, and I’m going to try to be ready and everything because it’s one of those opportunities that don’t happen every day. So obviously, yeah, really, really grateful with the car that the team has provided us so far, and yeah, I just need to keep my head down.”

I’ve always been of the opinion that the very best drivers, the World Champions, are capable of stepping up a gear when the equipment is beneath them and they realise they have an opportunity. Right now, Antonelli is doing exactly that.

Loser: George Russell

As good as the start of the season has been for Antonelli, it’s still far more likely that it’s Russell who will emerge as the stronger driver on the whole this year, as would be expected of someone with considerably greater experience while coming into his peak years of having the raw speed to balance with that wisdom.

Of course, the new cars provide a great reset in that regard, and, as Antonelli said in China, his wild crash in FP3 in Australia has given him a better understanding of how best to weigh up risk versus reward.

Russell might have thought he would be the driver to reap the rewards of Mercedes’ early-season dominance, given his clear superiority over Antonelli last year, but the British driver was unable to hide his frustration when he realised that the Safety Car had likely scuppered his chances of victory.

What does it say about Antonelli’s speed that Russell’s realisation that he had lost track position to his young teammate, given there was still half a race to go, meant victory had likely slipped through his fingers?

From there, Russell lost positions to the Ferraris – firstly due to hitting the energy harvesting limit too early, meaning he had insufficient battery for the restart, and secondly due to a software glitch caused by pressing a button at the same time as a gearshift, which resulted in him going into superclip.

Luck did go against Russell, granted, but he was overshadowed by his considerably less experienced teammate, who now enjoys the lead of the Drivers’ Championship and a swell of momentum and confidence.

Given that Toto Wolff has been eager to downplay talk of Antonelli being in the title fight, Russell needs to reassert his authority if he’s not to lose the favourites’ positioning.

While Antonelli may still have an attitude of being an amenable and cooperative teammate, his happiness at delivering upon his potential being sufficient reward for now, the fact that Russell hasn’t been able to take command yet will only empower Antonelli more with each passing weekend.

At what point does the cheeky chappy that is Kimi Antonelli develop a razor’s edge and show Russell and Wolff he’s made of stern stuff? That’s a question Russell might not like the answer to.

Winner: Oscar Piastri

On Lap 20 of the Japanese Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri had led 100 per cent of his completed race laps of the F1 2026 season.

It’s quite a stat, and an accomplishment, for a driver who had sat out the first two races of the year, and missed out on all the knowledge of what it’s actually like to race with these complex new machines during an actual Grand Prix.

But, despite this lack of knowledge, Piastri hooked up his start from third on the grid to snatch the lead from the two Mercedes drivers and, despite Russell applying the pressure in what appeared to be a quicker car, weathered the storm perfectly.

This included snatching back the lead through a Duracell-powered switch of positions after Russell deployed his energy into the chicane before Piastri did the same down the pit straight on Lap 8.

From there, Piastri kept Russell at arm’s length, and his radio messages proved he had the belief in his own pace to keep the British driver behind.

What might have been without the Safety Car? Certainly, Stella reckoned Antonelli’s pace was such that the Italian driver might have been Piastri’s greatest threat, but the Australian certainly hinted he would have been there or thereabouts at the chequered flag.

“I would have loved to have seen how it would have panned out,” he said.

“I think I need to look back and see whether Kimi was quicker than George or similar pace. I think if he was the same pace as George then it would have been a pretty stressful afternoon because I probably would have had both of them right on my gearbox.

“But yeah, I mean, I think once Kimi had clean air, clearly, he was a lot faster than me. So, I’m not sure we would have won the race, but I certainly would have loved to have found out.”

With Norris also turning in a solid race to qualify and race to fifth after reliability issues hampered his preparations, Piastri said the weekend marked a turning point for McLaren after a tricky start to the year.

“I think we just nailed everything,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite enough for the win, but I think at the moment a result like today is as good as a win for us at the moment.”

Loser: Max Verstappen

The four-time F1 World Champion appears to be going through the wobbliest period of his F1 career so far, as he is struggling with whether F1 still aligns with his professional enjoyment.

With the regulations actively hampering drivers who maximise speed through corners, it’s no surprise that he is one of those who appears to be struggling most with the new rules: although I reckon this is more due to his raging against the machine, rather than a skill issue.

With Verstappen appearing to be reluctant to accept this new status quo, paddock whispers have grown to the point where a sabbatical appears inevitable. Should that come to pass, it would align exactly with Verstappen’s principled stance: a hypocrite he is not, and his issues with the regulations are not easily handwaved away, as some social media fans would suggest, as being a case of “getting good”.

Before he’s even turned 30, Verstappen has hit a point where he is openly questioning whether he has the motivation to continue in a sport that is no longer lighting his fire on-track. As many now-retired drivers will vouch, the fact that the Dutch driver has reached this point publicly suggests the situation is quite drastic behind the scenes.

In terms of his driving, Verstappen may have been outqualified by Isack Hadjar, but recovered well on Sunday to get back to eighth, held off by a determined Pierre Gasly (more on that in a moment!).

Japan also showed just how long Verstappen can hold onto perceived slights against him, as he kicked a journalist out of his media session on Thursday over what he felt was a goading question lobbed his way after losing the title in Abu Dhabi last season: the war of words between the two sides saw the journalist in question explain the moment as being down to his own nerves leading to an awkward, nervous smile.

Certainly, there’s no reason to doubt that Verstappen has genuinely interpreted the incident as being goading and disrespectful, particularly given he has had run-ins with British media in the past, but that doesn’t mean that that interpretation is correct on this occasion.

It’s all rather morose for Red Bull: not only is the car not up to the team’s usual standard, but Verstappen appears to be having a crisis of identity: does F1 still matter to him? The answer, right now, looks like no.

While Verstappen insists he is enjoying working with his team, the sport itself is leaving him cold, and he has admitted to being past the point of caring. If Red Bull loses the Dutch driver, its metamorphosis from a tried-and-tested frontrunning squad into a hollowed-out midfield non-entity will be complete.

It turns out that, no matter how much senior management might wish otherwise, a championship-level team can’t be maintained on vibes alone.

More from the Japanese Grand Prix

Japanese GP 2026 driver ratings: Piastri surge, Bearman crash, and Alonso’s quiet performance

Japanese GP conclusions: Dodgeball on wheels, Verstappen’s rampage, Russell’s Norris test

Winner: Pierre Gasly

The French driver is the only driver outside a Mercedes or Ferrari car to score points in all three Grands Prix so far this year, and it’s also the first time in his entire career he’s achieved that accomplishment.

Gasly did this with a drive that even earned praise from Verstappen, who admitted that, despite his best efforts, lap after lap, he couldn’t coax a mistake from his rival despite applying immense pressure on the Alpine driver for almost the entirety of the Japanese Grand Prix.

“It’s not every single weekend I had the chance to fight with a four-time world champion, and I’m glad to be in a position to do it with him,” Gasly said afterwards.

The battle required Gasly to pay close attention to his mirrors, with the Alpine man explaining he could see his relentless rival was strong out of Turn 11, and it was canny defence that meant Verstappen was bested on this occasion – the second race in a row Gasly has been a thorn in the side for his former Red Bull teammate.

“So yeah, I think I definitely enjoyed the race, because, with that extra pressure, there is more at stake,” he said.

“You know who you’re fighting against, and I also get the best out of myself in this type of moment.

“I’m very pleased, the pace was good, as we were a lot faster than any other cars in the midfield.

“It’s the perfect weekend, really, because seventh in quali is definitely the best position we could get. And, in the race, the top six were out of reach.

“But, at the same time, we finished only seven seconds behind Lewis, which for me is a very positive sign. And then 19 seconds in front of Liam in P9. So we were clearly more on the better trend and the better group.”

Given that there’s no doubt the Mercedes, Ferraris, and McLarens are a clear step ahead, Gasly leading the chasing pack is the maximum possible – and he’s delivering.

Loser: F1 2026 regulations

I’m reluctant to pile on too much, given just how much I’ve written about the regulations recently, so I’ll just point you in the direction of my post-race column from Sunday for a more in-depth explanation of my thoughts on where the sport has gone wrong with this ruleset.

But, in summary, my belief is that Oliver Bearman’s crash is the wake-up call that the sport has needed ever since level-headed drivers such as Carlos Sainz, Bearman himself, and Lando Norris started pointing out the dangers of the new regulations.

Unfortunately, the weakness of the new internal combustion engines means that options are limited in the short term. For Suzuka, the FIA attempted to improve matters by reducing the maximum harvestable energy down to 8mJ from 9mJ.

The effects of this appeared largely negligible, with drivers open about their ponderous approaches to the first sector in order to maintain battery for the straight bits, but sources have suggested that deploying (heh) measures such as restricting maximum energy harvests will be potential solutions going forward.

The irony of this is that, put in its most basic terms, this just means that the impetus is being put back on the internal combustion engine in the ratio, something that these new rules were trying to move away from in the first place.

But, with the ICE no longer being particularly powerful in its own right, this can’t be tweaked much; the power units themselves have been designed to have almost 50 per cent of their potential come from the electrical side, after all, meaning laptimes and ultimate performance will suffer if energy isn’t harvested and used.

Given the unknowns that these rather seismic regulations threw up, perhaps more wiggle room would have been wise.

Certainly, the new regulations have coincided with a halt to F1’s share price. After five years of continuous steady growth, a peak of 108 US dollars in the summer of 2025 has slid away by over 20 per cent, with the stock price now matching where it was in late 2024.

It could be a coincidence, of course, but there is a certain level of desperation in how there has been a reluctance to present the new rules as being anything less than superlatively exciting, which is a galling juxtaposition in the face of near-unanimous criticism from the drivers.

Winner: Cadillac

This early in the game, simply being reliable is all Cadillac can strive for, and it’s exactly what Graeme Lowdon’s team is achieving.

A second consecutive double finish saw Perez come home in 17th, and Bottas 19th, with the Mexican driver finishing on the lead lap (helped by the Safety Car intervention).

“Today was our strongest race so far this year,” Perez said.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in a short space of time, and we can be happy to get two cars past the finish yet again.

“[On Saturday], we had some issues with the deployment, and today it felt like we were on top of it. We were clearly faster than Aston Martin, and we can see our pace is getting stronger.”

Finishing ahead of cars from established teams such as Aston Martin and Williams is no mean feat at this point, and it could have been even better had Bottas’ race not been compromised behind the Safety Car, with the race resuming while the Finn was still over 30 seconds behind the pack.

Bottas had been the only driver to plump for the hard tyre in the first stint, with this gamble not paying off with the timing of the Safety Car.

With the development cycle for the MAC26 having kicked off, the American squad can be optimistic for a solid home race in Miami in a month’s time.

Loser: Oliver Bearman

Yes, it’s a harsh one, given how his race ended but, on this occasion, Bearman was bested by Esteban Ocon over the course of the weekend.

With the French driver taking 12th on the grid to Bearman’s 18th, the British driver left chasing the session after a switch issue on the first run in Q1, Bearman moved up to 15th in the opening laps on Sunday.

Coming out behind Franco Colapinto, his energy deployment was such that he closed on Colapinto with a delta of around 50kph, and, caught out by this, Bearman lost control as he took avoiding action.

Granted, Colapinto played a small role in this as he moved across a smidge to defend – something that would have been a complete non-issue with the ’25 cars – but Bearman was ultimately the one who misjudged the moment.

While it would have been unpalatable, slotting in behind Colapinto and forgoing the energy deployment would have been another option, but Bearman was eager not to lose out. With no safety margin if the door closed, Bearman was left a passenger.

Thankfully, he emerged largely unscathed as the first victim of these overly complex and unsavoury regulations, on what was largely a weekend to forget after a strong start to the season.

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