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At a glance:

Podium

P1 - Kimi Antonelli

P2 - Oscar Piastri (+13.722)

P3 - Charles Leclerc (+15.754)

Oscar

P2 (+13.722)

Fastest lap: 1:32.996

Top speed (at speed trap): 289 kph

Lando

P5 (+23.479)

Fastest lap: 1:33.208

Top speed (at speed trap): 304 kph

Key Takeaways:

Great start for Oscar and Lando - Oscar immediately jumped into P1 before the first corner. Lando got a great launch and improved to third. Antonelli fell back to P6 from pole with a poor launch, and Russell fell to P4. However, Russell recovered to second within a couple of laps. Oscar acquitted himself well holding off Russell and playing the deployment strategy game. Lando, however, struggled to hold the places he gained from his good start.

Crash shakes up Bearman, race - Bearman crashed into the barriers on lap 21 whilst trying to avoid a slow Colapinto. He was slow to get out of the car following the 50G crash and was reported to have banged up his knee, but he was otherwise ok. This happened immediately after Russell pitted in response to Oscar's undercut, but before Antonelli and Hamilton pitted. This placed Antonelli in P1 after pitting under the safety car and put Hamilton in position to pass Russell on the restart on lap 28 and challenge Oscar for P2. Oscar was able to hold on to P2 and extend the gap on superior pace despite Hamilton's four-lap tire advantage. However, in clean air, Antonelli began running eight tenths or more faster per lap than Oscar and opened up an insurmountable gap. This, ironically, also provided Oscar with clean air to defend his position as the cars behind jockeyed for P3.

Bad luck for Russell - Between the setup issue in qualifying that carried into the race and the unlucky pit stop timing, Russell found himself dropping back in the field in the second half of the race. Russell's running further back in the field in tighter traffic potentially demonstrates the significant difference in how the Mercedes runs in dirty air versus clean. Russell was clearly frustrated over the radio, to the point where Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff spoke to him on the radio during the race.

"Turns out when we start these things, we're pretty good!" - Oscar is voted driver of the day, taking P2 on his first start of the season. Without the safety car, he would have likely finished P1, but that's how racing goes sometimes. Considering that going in, P3 looked like the best possible result based on the data from practice, P2 is still amazing, and McLaren are demonstrating that the car does have the pace to compete at the front. Lando's finish in P5 was about where I expected him to end up given the limited time he had to get a feel for the car on this circuit.

🇯🇵 28.03.2026 | F1 Grand Prix Of Japan - Qualifying session (P3)