ROUND

3

Japanese Grand Prix

2026-03-29·53 laps

Kimi Antonelli made it back-to-back victories at Suzuka to become the youngest-ever leader of the Formula 1 World Championship, despite a nightmare start that dropped him from pole to sixth after suffering wheelspin off the line. Oscar Piastri seized the lead into Turn 1 on his first race start of 2026 (after non-classifications in Australia and China) and looked set for a maiden win, while George Russell recovered from an early slide to fight back through the order. The race was decided by fortune as much as pace: Ollie Bearman suffered a heavy 50g crash at Turn 13 on Lap 20, triggering a Safety Car that arrived just after Piastri, Russell and Leclerc had already made their pit stops but before Antonelli and Hamilton had — handing both an effectively free stop and the lead. Antonelli controlled the remaining laps to beat Piastri by 13.722 seconds, with Leclerc completing the podium ahead of Russell in fourth, and Norris edging out Hamilton for fifth.

Race Winner

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

Fastest Lap

1:32.432

Kimi Antonelli

Conditions

☀ Dry

Circuit Profile

Suzuka International Racing Course

Lap length

5.807 km

Race distance

53 laps · 307.8 km

Tyre allocation

H C1 · M C2 · S C3

Pit-lane loss (model)

≈ 22.9 s

Tyre degradation

Low

Overtaking

Moderate

Pit-lane loss, degradation and overtaking are PITWALL simulator inputs for this circuit, not official figures.

Suzuka International Racing Course circuit guide →Run this circuit in the simulator →

Qualifying

POS	Driver	Q1	Q2	Q3	Grid
1	Kimi Antonelli	1:30.035	1:29.048	1:28.778	1
2	George Russell	1:29.967	1:29.686	1:29.076	2
3	Oscar Piastri	1:30.200	1:29.451	1:29.132	3
4	Charles Leclerc	1:29.915	1:29.303	1:29.405	4
5	Lando Norris	1:30.401	1:29.795	1:29.409	5
6	Lewis Hamilton	1:30.309	1:29.589	1:29.567	6
7	Pierre Gasly	1:30.584	1:29.874	1:29.691	7
8	Isack Hadjar	1:30.662	1:30.104	1:29.978	8
9	Gabriel Bortoleto	1:30.359	1:29.990	1:30.274	9
10	Arvid Lindblad	1:30.781	1:30.109	1:30.319	10
11	Max Verstappen	1:30.519	1:30.262	—	11
12	Esteban Ocon	1:30.915	1:30.309	—	12
13	Nico Hulkenberg	1:30.358	1:30.387	—	13
14	Liam Lawson	1:30.657	1:30.495	—	14
15	Franco Colapinto	1:30.931	1:30.627	—	15
16	Carlos Sainz	1:30.927	1:31.033	—	16
17	Alexander Albon	1:31.088	—	—	17
18	Oliver Bearman	1:31.090	—	—	18
19	Sergio Perez	1:32.206	—	—	19
20	Valtteri Bottas	1:32.330	—	—	20
21	Fernando Alonso	1:32.646	—	—	21
22	Lance Stroll	1:32.920	—	—	22

Grid to Finish

Places gained or lost between the starting grid (after penalties) and the flag, for 20 of 20 classified drivers.

Biggest gains

Liam LawsonP14 → P9+5

Max VerstappenP11 → P8+3

Fernando AlonsoP21 → P18+3

Biggest losses

Isack HadjarP8 → P12-4

Gabriel BortoletoP9 → P13-4

Arvid LindbladP10 → P14-4

Race Timeline

🚦LAP 1Lights out — 53 laps scheduled

🏎LAP 1Pole-sitter Antonelli suffers heavy wheelspin off the line and drops to sixth as Piastri seizes the lead into Turn 1 from Leclerc and Norris.

🔧LAP 16First pit stop of the race: Lando Norris switches to Hard

🚗LAP 20Ollie Bearman crashes heavily at Turn 13 at huge closing speed (50g impact) — Safety Car deployed.

⚡LAP 20With Piastri, Russell and Leclerc already having pitted before the Safety Car, Antonelli and Hamilton — who had not yet stopped — take a free pit stop at half the usual time cost, handing Antonelli the lead.

🏆LAP 22Race winner Kimi Antonelli makes stop 1, fitting Hard

🏎LAP 49Antonelli sets the fastest lap of the race on his way to victory.

🔧LAP 49Last pit stop of the race: Alexander Albon switches to Medium

🏁LAP 53Chequered flag — Kimi Antonelli wins

Tyre Strategy

Every stint for the 20 classified drivers with recorded pit data (20 classified in total). Bar lengths are to scale with the 53-lap race distance.

P1Kimi Antonelli

M 22

H 31

P2Oscar Piastri

M 18

H 35

P3Charles Leclerc

M 17

H 36

P4George Russell

M 21

H 32

P5Lando Norris

M 16

H 37

P6Lewis Hamilton

M 22

H 31

P7Pierre Gasly

M 22

H 31

P8Max Verstappen

M 22

H 31

P9Liam Lawson

M 22

H 31

P10Esteban Ocon

M 19

H 34

P11Nico Hulkenberg

M 23

H 30

P12Isack Hadjar

M 19

H 34

P13Gabriel Bortoleto

M 22

H 31

P14Arvid Lindblad

M 18

H 35

P15Carlos Sainz

M 22

H 31

P16Franco Colapinto

M 17

H 36

P17Sergio Perez

M 21

H 32

P18Fernando Alonso

M 21

H

M 30

P19Valtteri Bottas

H 19

M 34

P20Alexander Albon

M 22

H 23

S

M

LAP 1LAP 27LAP 53

One-stop

18

Two-stop

1

Three+ stops

1

Winner's strategy: Medium → Hard

Longest stint: Lando Norris, 37 laps on Hard

Compound sequences used

Medium → Hard

17 driver(s) · best result P1

Medium → Hard → Medium

1 driver(s) · best result P18

Hard → Medium

1 driver(s) · best result P19

Medium → Hard → Soft → Medium

1 driver(s) · best result P20

Pit Stops & Neutralisations

First stops came between lap 16 and lap 23, with a median of lap 21.

Stops made within 2 laps of a Safety Car or VSC being called. The race data records when a neutralisation started, not when it ended.

🚗 Safety Car · lap 20

Kimi Antonelli — lap 22, stop 1, onto Hard
George Russell — lap 21, stop 1, onto Hard
Lewis Hamilton — lap 22, stop 1, onto Hard
Pierre Gasly — lap 22, stop 1, onto Hard
Max Verstappen — lap 22, stop 1, onto Hard
Liam Lawson — lap 22, stop 1, onto Hard
Gabriel Bortoleto — lap 22, stop 1, onto Hard
Carlos Sainz — lap 22, stop 1, onto Hard
Sergio Perez — lap 21, stop 1, onto Hard
Fernando Alonso — lap 21, stop 1, onto Hard
Alexander Albon — lap 22, stop 1, onto Hard
Lance Stroll — lap 21, stop 1, onto Hard

Actual vs PITWALL Simulation

PITWALL model output · not official data

PITWALL replayed this race 40 times from the real starting grid, with all 20 finishers on the strategies they actually used. It then kept every rival's strategy fixed and tested alternative strategies for the winner, Kimi Antonelli.

Safety Car called on lap 20

Strategy	Stops	Avg finish	Win	Race time vs actual
ActualMHL22	1	P7.7	0%	—
HSL19	1	P1.0	100%	−8.6 s
MSL17	1	P1.0	100%	−8.6 s
SML19	1	P1.0	98%	−7.9 s
SML18SL35	2	P11.3	0%	+5.2 s
MSL18SL35	2	P11.2	0%	+5.3 s
MML18SL35	2	P11.5	0%	+5.7 s

In PITWALL's model, Hard → Soft would have been 8.6 s quicker than the strategy Kimi Antonelli actually used.

Model check: with everyone on their real strategy, the simulated finishing positions were on average 4.4 places away from the real result, and Kimi Antonelli won 0% of the simulated races.

Retired cars are left out of the replay. Safety Car and VSC periods use the simulator's default length, because the race data records only when they were called. Model replay-2, computed 2026-10-23. How the simulator works and its limits →

Why They Lost

Strategy and race factors that shaped the result for drivers who finished behind Kimi Antonelli.

P18Fernando AlonsoAston Martin

▸Made 2 stops to the winner's 1, conceding track position on the extra in-lap and out-lap.

P20Alexander AlbonWilliams

▸Made 3 stops to the winner's 1, conceding track position on the extra in-lap and out-lap.

P3Charles LeclercFerrari

▸Pitted 5 laps earlier than Kimi Antonelli (lap 17 vs 22), exposing the next stint to more wear.

P5Lando NorrisMcLaren

▸Pitted 6 laps earlier than Kimi Antonelli (lap 16 vs 22), exposing the next stint to more wear.

P16Franco ColapintoAlpine

▸Pitted 5 laps earlier than Kimi Antonelli (lap 17 vs 22), exposing the next stint to more wear.

DNFLance StrollAston Martin

▸Retired before the finish (DNF).

Strategy Breakdown

Simulator replay is unavailable for this race: some drivers changed tyres more than twice, and the simulator replay link can carry at most two stops per car.

POS	Driver	Strategy	Time	Gap
1	Kimi Antonelli Mercedes	M→HL22	1:28:03.403	+0.000	—
2	Oscar Piastri McLaren	M→HL18	1:28:17.125	+13.722	—
3	Charles Leclerc Ferrari	M→HL17	1:28:18.673	+15.270	—
4	George Russell Mercedes	M→HL21	1:28:19.157	+15.754	—
5	Lando Norris McLaren	M→HL16	1:28:26.882	+23.479	—
6	Lewis Hamilton Ferrari	M→HL22	1:28:28.440	+25.037	—
7	Pierre Gasly Alpine	M→HL22	1:28:35.743	+32.340	—
8	Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing	M→HL22	1:28:36.080	+32.677	—
9	Liam Lawson Racing Bulls	M→HL22	1:28:53.583	+50.180	—
10	Esteban Ocon Haas	M→HL19	1:28:54.619	+51.216	—
11	Nico Hulkenberg Audi	M→HL23	1:28:55.683	+52.280	—
12	Isack Hadjar Red Bull Racing	M→HL19	1:28:59.557	+56.154	—
13	Gabriel Bortoleto Audi	M→HL22	1:29:02.481	+59.078	—
14	Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls	M→HL18	1:29:03.251	+59.848	—
15	Carlos Sainz Williams	M→HL22	1:29:08.411	+65.008	—
16	Franco Colapinto Alpine	M→HL17	1:29:09.176	+65.773	—
17	Sergio Perez Cadillac	M→HL21	1:29:35.856	+92.453	—
18	Fernando Alonso Aston Martin	M→HL21→ML23	1:28:29.951	+1 lap	—
19	Valtteri Bottas Cadillac	H→ML19	1:28:46.024	+1 lap	—
20	Alexander Albon Williams	M→HL22→SL45→ML49	1:28:08.470	+2 laps	—
21	Lance Stroll Aston Martin	M→HL21→ML24	—	DNF	—
22	Oliver Bearman Haas	M→HL16	—	DNF	—