The 2026 F1 Japanese GP race at Suzuka was finally underway! Few had expected anything other than a Mercedes front-row lockout, given how comfortably the Silver Arrows had outpaced the rest of the field throughout qualifying.
Kimi Antonelli had been the quicker of the two, though, building on his strong showing in Shanghai to pip his teammate by nearly three tenths of a second. He had secured back-to-back pole positions and given himself a genuine shot at back-to-back victories.
Delayed start
Before the F1 Japanese GP race could get going, the FIA stepped in to announce a delayed start. Repair crews had been working to fix damaged barriers since an incident in one of the earlier support races, so race officials pushed back the pit lane opening.
Antonelli led the field away on the formation lap. A win here would ignite the championship conversation in a serious way, and the pressure would only grow with it. For now, a clean getaway was all he needed to focus on. He guided the car around the circuit with the rest of the field forming up behind him, pulled into the pole position slot, and waited as George Russell settled in nearly alongside. The remaining cars filed into their places, and the red lights were nearly ready to come on.
Lights out
Oscar Piastri got away cleanly and immediately established himself at the front, with Charles Leclerc slotting in behind as the Mercedes cars got away poorly again. Further back, Antonelli had already begun his recovery, moving past Lewis Hamilton to climb to fifth before the first lap was done.
Russell was also on the move, working his way through the field despite carrying a set-up that made his car a handful. A decision made the day before qualifying had left him with a stiffer, less forgiving configuration, and the parc fermé rules meant there was no going back. Nevertheless, the underlying pace of the Mercedes was enough for him to brush aside both Lando Norris and Leclerc in quick succession. Piastri began to look vulnerable at the front.
Antonelli, meanwhile, was stuck behind Norris in fifth. He needed to keep the gap to his teammate manageable if he wanted any chance of winning the race, but Norris had found a way to use his battery deployment cleverly and kept the Italian at bay. Hamilton sat just behind that group, with Pierre Gasly a couple of seconds further back.
The pit stop phase
By the eighth lap, the order had settled. Gasly held seventh for Alpine ahead of Max Verstappen, who sat nearly five seconds adrift. Esteban Ocon and Arvid Lindblad completed the top ten, the latter showing the Haas had genuine pace over a race distance. Oliver Bearman had already charged from eighteenth up to fifteenth.
Piastri’s advantage over Russell had been whittled down to half a second by lap nine. The team flagged some concern about his front left tyre, and Russell capitalised, sweeping through at the final corner to take the lead. Piastri used his stored energy to hit back at the next corner, though, retaking the position immediately. The two-race absence had done nothing to blunt his racecraft.
A three-way battle
The three-way fight between Leclerc, Norris and Antonelli intensified on lap ten, the trio running in close company through third, fourth and fifth. Hamilton had given himself some breathing room from that group, perhaps deliberately, with an eye on the later stages of the race.
Antonelli broke the deadlock on lap twelve, copying a move Russell had used on Piastri earlier in the race, catching Norris off guard through the chicane to move up to fourth. Leclerc now stood between him and his teammate.
Norris was the first of the frontrunners to pit on lap seventeen, switching to hard tyres with an eye on running to the finish. He came out in ninth, having cleared Ocon but unable to trouble Leclerc. Leclerc himself pitted a lap later, freeing Antonelli into a clear fourth. Leclerc rejoined just ahead of Norris.
Piastri finally came in from the lead on lap nineteen, his front left tyre badly blistered by that point. He took on hard rubber and slotted back in sixth, behind Verstappen but clear of Leclerc. Russell and Antonelli now sat first and second, both yet to stop, with Hamilton third ahead of Gasly, Verstappen and Piastri.
Russell pitted on lap twenty-two and rejoined just ahead of Verstappen. Moments later, the yellow flags came out. Bearman had crashed heavily at Spoon after being squeezed towards the grass by traffic, losing control and sliding into the barriers. He climbed out and walked away, though not without difficulty. The Safety Car came out, and Antonelli was called in from the lead.
Safety Car
The circuit required thorough cleaning before racing could resume, Bearman’s car having come to rest after spinning across the full width of the track. Several drivers took the opportunity to pit for fresh rubber. Valterri Bottas pulled out of line to unlap himself, while the Aston Martins switched back to the medium compound. When the Safety Car pulled in at the end of lap twenty-seven, Antonelli held the lead ahead of Piastri, with Hamilton having caught Russell napping on the run to the line to climb to third.
Back to green
Antonelli began to pull clear in the laps that followed, building a gap of over three and a half seconds to Piastri by lap thirty-three. Hamilton sat a further second back in third, with Russell close behind in fourth. Leclerc held fifth, while Norris had fallen away from the leading group and seemed to be managing his own race. Behind them, Gasly continued to frustrate Verstappen in the fight for seventh, defending patiently lap after lap.
Stroll retired on lap thirty-six with what he described as a suspected water pressure problem, leaving two cars parked up for the day.
On lap thirty-eight, Russell lost pace unexpectedly over several corners, and Leclerc needed no invitation to take advantage, moving past him into fourth. Russell recovered his pace shortly afterwards and fought back, but the damage had been done.
Antonelli, free of all this, continued to extend his advantage. By this point he was lapping noticeably quicker than anyone else on the circuit.
Late battles for Ferrari
Leclerc grew frustrated running behind Hamilton on lap forty-one, the Ferrari unable to get close enough to attempt a genuine move. Hamilton held firm each time Leclerc probed. Russell sat back and watched, aware that any contact between those two would hand him an easy place.
Leclerc eventually found a way through on the main straight, deploying his battery to get alongside and then pulling off a committed move around the outside of Turn 1 to take third. Hamilton pushed back immediately, sitting close to Russell behind him as his tyres went through a difficult spell.
Antonelli, oblivious to all of this, set the fastest lap of the race and moved over ten seconds clear.
On lap forty-three, Russell seized his moment, surging past Hamilton on the straight to reclaim fourth. Hamilton’s pace had dropped noticeably, and Norris, who had been running a few seconds back, began to close in.
The stewards examined an incident on lap forty-six in which Hamilton appeared to gain an advantage by running over a chicane apex. Norris was quick to make his feelings known over the radio. The case was ultimately dismissed.
The final laps of the 2026 F1 Japanese GP race
By lap forty-seven, Antonelli was essentially unchallenged. His teammate continued to hunt Leclerc for third without success, and Norris was finding Hamilton equally hard to pass. Williams brought Alex Albon in from seventeenth for soft tyres, hoping to gather some useful data on front wing behaviour in clear air.
Norris did briefly get past Hamilton on lap forty-eight, only for Hamilton to respond down the next straight. The two continued to swap paint.
Antonelli set another fastest lap on lap fifty, his lead having grown to nearly fourteen seconds.
On lap fifty-one, Russell got a good exit from the chicane and moved past Leclerc. The Ferrari came straight back, though, drawing alongside on the run to Turn 1 and completing an audacious move around the outside to retake third. It was the move of the race.
Antonelli wins the 2026 F1 Japanese GP race
Antonelli crossed the line to win in Japan, completing his second consecutive victory and moving to the top of the championship standings. Piastri brought his McLaren home in a well-earned second, finally completing a full race weekend. Leclerc held on for third after a fierce battle with Russell, who took fourth. Norris got past Hamilton in the final laps to claim fifth, and Gasly pipped Verstappen for seventh on the final lap. Lawson and Ocon took the final two points positions.
