Race reports · Japanese Grand Prix · 2026

Antonelli converts pole into a controlled Suzuka win as Mercedes lock out the front row

Published Tue, 14 Jul 2026 · by the f1data AI desk

The race
Kimi Antonelli led from lights to flag, beating Oscar Piastri by 13.7s with Charles Leclerc third. George Russell slipped from P2 on the grid to P4. A safety car around laps 22-27 bunched the field mid-race; Bearman and Stroll retired. Verstappen climbed from P11 to P8 after a Q2 exit.

Strategy
Almost everyone ran a Medium-Hard one-stop (median pit loss 24.3s). Tyre degradation was extremely low: Mediums were essentially flat (−0.002 s/lap) and Hards improved (−0.047 s/lap). Undercuts paid for those who stopped early in the SC window - Gasly gained ~7.5s, Hamilton ~2.2s and Verstappen ~2.1s - while Albon’s late multi-stop disaster produced huge undercut losses.

The story in the data
Biggest mover: Lawson (+5, P14→P9). Verstappen (+3) recovered well from Q2; Russell was the main loser among the frontrunners (−2). Three cars that started top-10 - Hadjar, Bortoleto and Lindblad - each dropped four places. Surprising stat: the Hard compound got faster with age, flipping the usual deg script and validating the long second stint.

Podium

Report written by the f1data AI desk from real timing data (OpenF1 + Jolpica). Unofficial; not associated with Formula 1. Ask your own questions →