There was an element of good fortune for Kimi Antonelli in taking victory at the Japanese Grand Prix but the youngster demonstrated emphatically that he is ready to close out with the precision of a veteran if given a sniff of a chance. It is a champion’s trait which was suitably marked, as in so doing the 19-year-old has became the youngest driver to lead the Formula One world championship.
Antonelli, still a fresh-faced youth, whooped and hollered with abandon when he took the flag, having claimed the win after dropping from pole to sixth at the start. His sheer unrestrained joy at delivering on his undoubted talent and the pleasure he clearly revels in when competing are positively infectious. After his two successive wins, Formula One not only has a new star to celebrate but one who has staked his claim to be considered a potential champion.
The race was also marked, though, by a terrifying moment of jeopardy, when the British driver Oliver Bearman had a major crash from which he was lucky to emerge largely uninjured. The incident will cause serious questions to be asked within the sport about the new regulations.
Bearman sustained a 50G impact against the barriers when he crashed out at Spoon corner after having to swerve to leave the track to avoid smashing into the rear of Franco Colapinto, because of the extreme difference in closing speed between the two cars. The Haas driver Bearman had been deploying additional energy and was travelling at 190mph when he came up on Colapinto, who was going considerably slower as part of his energy management procedure. Their closing speed was a frighteningly fast 31mph.
Bearman blamed himself for misjudging the rate at which he would close when he deployed his energy boost but his team principal, Ayao Komatsu, insisted it had not been an error to do so; nor that Colapinto had done anything wrong, with the Alpine driver unaware Bearman was closing at such a rapid rate. The difference was illustrated emphatically in that Bearman still overtook Colapinto even as he was careering across the grass.
It was a scenario that drivers and team principals had warned repeatedly could happen and Bearman reacted very sharply to avoid hitting Colapinto. Had he done so at that speed there would almost certainly have been a horrific accident.
Bearman had to take to the grass and that left him powerless to stop, smashing through trackside distance markers before piling into the barriers. When he emerged from the car, he appeared hurt and was helped by the marshals before being taken to the medical centre.
He was examined, was alert and communicating, and had no fractures, with only bruising to his right knee. The FIA, the organising body, acknowledged the seriousness of the incident and said that a number of meetings were set to be held to review the new regulations before the next round in Miami in five weeks.
It was a lucky escape for Bearman and one that inadvertently favoured Antonelli. He went on to beat the McLaren of Oscar Piastri into second with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari, while his Mercedes teammate George Russell’s title ambitions took a minor blow as he finished fourth.
However, for the opening phase of the race it was Piastri who had led and who might have gone on to win. When Bearman’s accident prompted the safety car, it afforded Antonelli a free pit stop, while those in front of him had taken theirs under green flag conditions. It was enough to move him into the lead when racing resumed, a position he exploited ruthlessly.
Russell, who had pitted the lap before the accident, was left wondering exactly which deities he had offended. “Wow. Fuck, our luck in these last two races,” he exclaimed, in reference to a mechanical problem that had cost him in qualifying at the previous meeting in Shanghai.
He, too, had been stymied at the off as the problems in the Mercedes with getting away from the line were once more exposed as the car’s biggest weakness. He dropped from second to fourth and, stuck in a dogfight with Ferrari and McLaren rather than being able to exploit his superior pace in clean air out front, it was a position about which he could do little.
Russell, the pre-season favourite and with seven seasons in F1 under his belt to Antonelli’s one, now trails his junior partner by nine points. The Italian has taken Lewis Hamilton’s record of being the youngest driver to lead the world championship that has stood since 2007. During a season when there is potential for other teams to make major performance gains, Russell is only too aware that maximising points now while Mercedes enjoy an advantage is vital. Antonelli, simply enjoying the flush of victory, brushed aside talk of the title as premature but he undoubtedly knows he is very much in the mix.
1 Kimi Antonelli (It) Mercedes
2 Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren at 13.722sec
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari at 15.270s
4 George Russell (GB) Mercedes GP at 15.754s
5 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren at 23.479s
6 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Ferrari at 25.037s
7 Pierre Gasly (Fr) Alpine at 32.340s
8 Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull at 32.677s
9 Liam Lawson (NZ) RacingBulls at 50.180s
10 Esteban Ocon (Fr) Haas at 51.216s
11 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Audi at 52.280s
12 Isack Hadjar (Fr) Red Bull at 56.154s
13 Gabriel Bortoleto (Bra) Audi at 59.078s
14 Arvid Lindblad (GB) RacingBulls at 59.848s
15 Carlos Sainz Jr (Sp) Williams at 1m 05.008s
16 Franco Colapinto (Arg) Alpine at 1:05.773
17 Sergio Perez (Mex) Cadillac at 1:32.453
18 Fernando Alonso (Sp) Aston Martin at 1 lap
19 Valtteri Bottas (Finn) Cadillac at 1 lap
20 Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams at 2 laps
Not Classified: Oliver Bearman (GB) Haas, Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin
World drivers' championship standings
1 Kimi Antonelli (It) 72pts
2 George Russell (GB) 63
3 Charles Leclerc (Mon) 49
4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) 41
5 Lando Norris (GB) 25
6 Oscar Piastri (Aus) 21
7 Oliver Bearman (GB) 17
8 Pierre Gasly (Fr) 15
9 Max Verstappen (Neth) 12
10 Liam Lawson (NZ) 10
As McLaren yet might be. After a torrid start to the season, Lando Norris taking fifth at Suzuka behind Piastri marks by far their best result and is an indication that they may well yet be the team that come at Mercedes. For long periods after he took the lead at the start, Piastri had the measure of Russell in pace, suggesting McLaren are becoming more adept at exploiting their Mercedes power unit at every race. This is going some, given both cars failed even to start in China.
Aerodynamic development is expected to unlock further gains and while certainly the conditions at Suzuka – the low tyre-graining, for example – did suit them, there was reason for real optimism and some smiling faces at the team as the sun began to set in Japan.
Hamilton finished in sixth for Ferrari, Pierre Gasly was seventh for Alpine, Max Verstappen eighth for Red Bull, Liam Lawson ninth for Racing Bulls and Esteban Ocon 10th for Haas.
