SUZUKA, Japan: Kimi Antonelli won the Japanese Grand Prix from pole ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri as Max Verstappen endured another miserable outing in his Red Bull. AFP Sport looks at three talking points from the third race weekend on the 2026 Formula One calendar:
Antonelli is in only his second season, but already Mercedes are playing down expectations of the 19-year-old -- now the youngest title race leader in Formula One history. “We need to protect him now from people talking about world championships,” said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after the race.
Antonelli admitted he had a stroke of fortune with a safety car that enabled him to dive in for fresh tyres and emerge in the lead after his rivals had already pitted. It was the second race in a row where a slow getaway saw him relegated from pole position and having to play catch-up.
“I had a terrible start. I need to check what happened. Then I was lucky with the safety car to be in the lead but then the pace was incredible,” said Antonelli “Luckily, I’ve got three weeks, so now I can practise some clutch drops just to get a better feel with it. “It’s been a weak point and I need to improve because you can easily win or lose races.” Red Bull’s four-time world champion Verstappen openly questioned his future in Formula One after finishing eighth and lashing out again about the new cars and regulations.
“It’s really anti-driving,” he told the BBC. “Then at one point, yeah, it’s just not what I want to do.” Verstappen had won at Suzuka in each of the previous four years but was way off the pace and even waved goodbye to one car that overtook him, knowing that he did not have any capability to strike back.
