ANTONELLI WINS IN JAPAN TO BECOME YOUNGEST EVER CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER

Suzuka, Japan, a race that never fails to deliver was Round Three of this years World Championship and it was Kimi Antonelli who after a poor start and a bit of luck controlled the race and finished over ten seconds clear of second placed Oscar Piastri who finally managed some racing laps and showed his pace in 2026, the podium was rounded off with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who showed his confidence in his car making some spectacular overtakes into the Senna Esses.

Off the line it was the McLaren of Oscar Piastri who got the best start and the Australian driver leads into turn one ahead of Charles Leclerc and teammate Lando Norris. Antonelli who started on pole heads into turn one in sixth place, with Russell who started second dropping to fourth.

It didn't take Russell long to make some moves as on lap three, George passes Norris for third.

Then on the very next lap Russell returns to second place getting past Leclerc.

By lap eight Russell thought he had the lead of the race but sadly for the bookies favourite for the title it was only for a few hundred metres as the McLaren of Oscar Piastri re-passes him down the straight.

The first retirment came twenty two laps into the race when the Haas of Ollie Bearman has crashed at Spoon Curve, Bearman had attempted to pass Colapinto into the braking zone but the Alpine driver has moved over to where Bearman was going, and in an attempt to avoid the Argentine driver, the Haas is off into the grass and goes flying into the barriers with an impact of 50G causing Bearman to limp away from the accident, but is eventually cleared by the medical staff as all okay.

This of course means the Safety Car is deployed. This gifts Antonelli a free pit stop allowing him to hold onto the race lead which was gifted to him by others ahead of him pitting one lap before the incident which included his teammate George Russell who was clearly frustrated at the apparent lack of luck.

The Safety Car is in on lap twenty eight, with Hamilton getting past Russell for third amongst Russells anger and frustrations as Antonelli nailed the restart not letting Piastri get near him.

The second and final retirement came on lap thirty one when the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll pits to retire the car, with a water pressure issue. But in better news for Aston Martin they finally managed to finish a race with Alonso.

Antonelli walks away from Japan as the youngest ever World Championship leader at just 18 years old, a record unlikely to be broken for a very long time.

The next race is the Miami Grand Prix in May after the cancellations of the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April.

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