2026 Japanese GP, race results: Kimi repeats and flies to the top of the World Championship! Piastri 2nd, Leclerc beats Russell and takes the podium

F1 Japan, the GP standings

F1 Japan, the GP report

Yes, Formula 1 speaks Italian. We have waited 20 years for a driver capable of winning a GP, and now the tricolor flies at the top of the podium for two GPs in a row. Kimi Antonelli shows us that the Shanghai victory was not an isolated incident and repeats it at Suzuka, flying to the top of the World Championship with a nine-point lead over George Russell, who was off the podium today after an unlucky Safety Car.

Read more 2026 Drivers’ Championship: the standings after the Japanese GP

It is precisely the safety car, sent onto the track for Oliver Bearman’s accident (which will cause much discussion), that turned the GP in favor of the Bolognese driver, the only one of the front-runners not to have stopped along with Lewis Hamilton. Antonelli, who started poorly (from first to sixth), is nevertheless very good at exploiting the incidents and the pace of the Mercedes in clean air: even before the Safety Car, he was gaining on Russell, with whom he would probably have fought for the victory in a linear race. The Briton is the big loser today, even in morale: the blow on Saturday at the hands of Antonelli, Kimi’s victory, and the final maneuver on the outside of Turn 1 suffered from Charles Leclerc (with whom he loses the podium) leave the Briton with several question marks to which he will have to provide answers after the forced break.

Speaking of the Monegasque, he is among the great protagonists of the GP: the Ferrari driver starts well (from fourth to second) and at the start of the GP succumbs only to Russell, who passes him easily in Turn 1. The Safety Car pushes him back to fifth place, but the deployment problems of #63 at the Spoon and a great maneuver on Lewis Hamilton (the appetizer for what he would do to Russell himself several laps later) give Leclerc his second podium of the season. Hamilton, on the other hand, is bitter after being favored by the Safety Car: Sir Lewis, virtually on the podium for a few laps, has less pace and finishes in sixth place, behind Lando Norris and suffering two overtakes on the outside of Turn 1.

Behind them, the historically unusual (but currently a classic) duel between Pierre Gasly and Max Verstappen: today too, the Frenchman beats the four-time world champion, who suffers terribly with these cars and a Red Bull that is now a midfield car. Important championship points for Liam Lawson and Esteban Ocon, while Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad are outside the top-10 despite a good qualifying session.

Read more “You have balls of steel”. Even Bozzi goes crazy over the radio for the Leclerc-show

F1 Japan, the GP live coverage

You can relive the excitement of the Suzuka Race with our live report.

The next event

Due to the war in Iran, the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia events are cancelled, so F1 returns to the track only in May (1-3) for the Miami weekend, the second Sprint weekend of the year. It starts on Friday at 18.30 with the only free practice session, while at 22.30 the Sprint Qualifying will begin; on Saturday at 18 the Sprint and at 22 the Qualifying; on Sunday at 22 the GP will begin.

Read more 2026 Constructors’ Championship: the standings after the Japanese GP