Winners and losers from F1’s fraught Japanese Grand Prix

by isenews 29 March 2026 0 Comment

Winner: Kimi Antonelli

Few people would have bet against a Mercedes driver leading the standings after the opening leg of the season. But even fewer people would have gambled on Kimi Antonelli as Mercedes’ lead driver three weekends into the season.

Of course, there are various factors behind Antonelli getting ahead of team-mate George Russell, but the young Italian won’t and shouldn’t care one bit. What he can control is his own performances, and they have been excellent, controlled and displaying ever more maturity.

Being F1’s youngest-ever championship leader is a nice thing to have on your CV. But you know what’s even better? Being the youngest winner. It’s very early days, and Russell’s experience will likely pay out over an entire season. But there are also fewer and fewer reasons to suggest Antonelli can’t do it yet.

Loser: George Russell

Russell will be ruing his luck after a technical issue in China dented his chances of taking pole, and his fortune wasn’t much better in Japan. The Briton suffered from a poor getaway followed by the worst possible safety car timing, handing Antonelli a cheap pitstop right after he had pitted.

“In racing, sometimes it goes for you, sometimes it goes against you. It just feels like at the moment, in the last two weekends, it’s like every issue we’re having, it’s on my side and I’m the one sort of going through that pain,” he said.

Russell may have tried to remain philosophical in front of the cameras, but was clearly reeling. Mercedes cannot take its current advantage for granted at the start of a long season, which will see plenty of car development.

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

Winner: Oscar Piastri

At this point, even making the start of the race was an improvement, but Oscar Piastri did much more than the basics and delivered what he called one of the best races of his career.

A number of other races come to mind, including Baku 2024 and Zandvoort 2025, but it’s hard to disagree with Piastri as he kept Russell’s superior Mercedes behind much longer than anyone could have predicted.

Yes, track position did play a significant role, as demonstrated by Antonelli disappearing out of sight after the safety car, but what is true is that McLaren is entering the April break in much better shape now that it has seemingly figured out its Mercedes power unit.

Loser: Ferrari

As McLaren gradually gets a better handle on the Mercedes power unit, it looks like it has been able to leapfrog Ferrari, as Lewis Hamilton feared on Saturday.

Charles Leclerc drove an excellent race, another opportunity to show off his finely-honed racecraft in wheel-to-wheel battles with Hamilton and Russell, but it’s clear that Ferrari needs development in various areas – aero and power unit – to keep up with the Mercedes-powered frontrunners.

Leclerc was eventually helped by Russell’s battery issues, while Hamilton was suffering a mysterious lack of deployment of his own.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Winner: Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Japan feels like a good opportunity to give both Pierre Gasly and Alpine their flowers. For a team that finished dead last in 2025, it has put its sacrifice of the 2025 campaign to good use, and Gasly in particular has carried over his tenacity in qualifying to a car that allows him to consistently make his way into Q3.

Despite a poor qualifying result, Franco Colapinto also looked good value for a second consecutive points finish for Alpine. The Argentine was one of several drivers unlucky with the timing of the safety car, which gave the likes of Verstappen and Liam Lawson a cheaper stop. As indicated by Haas team boss Ayao Komatsu, Colapinto was an innocent bystander in the huge crash of Oliver Bearman, with an estimated 200kW power difference between the two cars the cause of terrifying 45km/h closing speeds.

Loser: Williams

Williams and Alpine appear to have traded places compared to last year. ‘A painful line in the sand’ is how James Vowles summed up Williams’ Sunday experience and it’s hard to put it any better. Any time a team is treating a grand prix like a glorified test session is generally not a very good sign.

Carlos Sainz went nowhere from 16th on the grid and finished 15th, while Alex Albon abandoned an optimal race result in favour of a pre-Miami testing programme. Williams will need to both shave significant weight off the car and add load just to get on par with the rest of the midfield, a group of competitors it was comfortably heading last year.

Sainz in particular sounded frustrated after qualifying on Saturday, pointing out Williams should have done much better given it had earmarked all of 2025 to focus on this set of regulations. Despite being armed with the best power unit package on the grid, it still missed the mark.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

Loser: Red Bull

Amid all the attention on Red Bull’s better-than-expected in-house power unit, what has become increasingly and painfully obvious is that the team is in a real pickle with its RB22 car.

The team has been renowned for its ability to turn the car upside down after free practice and find vast improvements, but fundamental issues with the chassis appear to make that impossible this year, no matter how hard they try.

Combined with a loathing of the new regulations, Red Bull’s plight is clearly draining Verstappen’s enthusiasm and team-mate Isack Hadjar also cut a frustrated figure as he struggles to confirm his excellent start to life at Red Bull.

Team principal Laurent Mekies has not sugar-coated the situation, to his credit, and is hoping Verstappen’s mood will improve with the performance of his car. Verstappen’s fans will be hoping Mekies is correct, as the Dutchman has never looked and sounded as apathetic towards life in F1 as he was over the Suzuka weekend.