The Japanese Grand Prix played host to Round 3 of the 2026 Formula 1 season and, as tends to be the case at the iconic Suzuka Circuit, it certainly delivered an entertaining weekend.<\/p>\n
Just two weeks on from scoring his maiden win, Kimi Antonelli claimed his second career victory \u2013 a result that, in the process, made the 19-year-old the youngest-ever championship leader in the sport\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
With plenty of other talking points also emerging during the event, here are all the key moments from the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n Antonelli recovers from poor start to win and become youngest championship leader<\/p>\n In a repeat of what he achieved one fortnight ago in China, Kimi Antonelli<\/a> secured pole position during Qualifying in Japan, the Mercedes<\/a> driver outpacing team mate George Russell<\/a> through the session to claim the P1 slot.<\/p>\n Russell and the team later admitted that a set-up change beforehand had seemingly hindered the Briton\u2019s performance \u2013 an issue that he would then have to carry into Sunday\u2019s race \u2013 but that did not take away from another solid outing for Antonelli.<\/p>\n Come race day, the youngster\u2019s prospects of repeating his Shanghai win initially looked shaky when he suffered a difficult start, slipping backwards by a number of positions off the line while McLaren\u2019s Oscar Piastri surged into the lead.<\/p>\n However, after making gains through the order, fortune favoured Antonelli. Finding himself provisionally in the lead as others around him \u2013 including Russell \u2013 made their pit stops, the decision to extend the Italian\u2019s stint paid off when a Safety Car was called on Lap 22 owing to a crash<\/a> for Haas<\/a>\u2019 Ollie Bearman<\/a>, meaning that Antonelli was able to pit and reemerge in P1.<\/p>\n The 19-year-old barely put a foot wrong for the remainder of the event, getting away well at the restart before building a gap that saw him cross the line with a sizeable lead of over 13 seconds from Piastri.<\/p>\n Antonelli now has a total of 72 points \u2013 meaning that he leads the Drivers’ Championship<\/a> by nine points from Russell and becomes the youngest person to ever head the standings in the process. While there is now a five-week gap until Round 4 in Miami, the teenager certainly holds the momentum entering into the April break.<\/p>\n Piastri and McLaren show their potential<\/p>\n Piastri<\/a> endured a dreadful start to the season thanks to an error at his home race in Australia \u2013 where he crashed on his way to the grid \u2013 and an unfortunate electrical issue that ruled him out of the Chinese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n However, he seemed to shrug off those early setbacks as he arrived in Japan, where he first hinted at McLaren<\/a>\u2019s newfound pace in FP2 by pipping Antonelli to the top spot, albeit by less than one-tenth.<\/p>\n The status quo was reinstated with the Silver Arrows locking out the front row in Qualifying, but they have still not found their feet when it comes to race starts which allowed the Australian to storm past both drivers and begin his defence of the lead.<\/p>\n Although he got a bit unlucky with the timing of his sole pit stop \u2013 four laps before the Safety Car \u2013 Piastri was able to steadily work his way back up to second place, avoiding the battles unfolding behind to deliver a confident drive to the podium.<\/p>\n He was left to wonder what could have been had the Safety Car not been deployed as he initially looked to be in a battle with Russell for the win, but the result was nevertheless a sign that McLaren are not to be written off quite yet.<\/p>\n The fact that Lando Norris<\/a> maintained his top-five spot from Qualifying also suggested an improvement for the team. While it was not a smooth journey to that point, as he first had to overcome myriad technical problems, it puts them in a great spot to continue building on in the break.<\/p>\n Leclerc seals another podium, but Hamilton less happy<\/p>\n The Mercedes versus Ferrari<\/a> battle that we came to expect from the opening rounds looked a little different this time, with Charles Leclerc<\/a> and Lewis Hamilton<\/a> grappling to master the energy deployment at the Suzuka Circuit.<\/p>\n Like many of their competitors, they were seen clinging onto their cars amid concerning snaps of oversteer throughout Free Practice and Qualifying, but Leclerc admitted that one such moment actually helped him secure P4<\/a> on the grid.<\/p>\n The Monegasque continued his streak of brilliant reactions at lights out, displacing Antonelli and Russell to move into second place. They both eventually fought their way back past and Leclerc got stuck into another tense fight with his team mate, which he eventually came out on top of despite some minor contact.<\/p>\n The action didn\u2019t abate for him as Russell put more and more pressure on Leclerc for the final podium spot, surging past with two laps remaining before the Ferrari driver reclaimed the position down the main straight, defending it all the way to the end.<\/p>\n His relentless drive took the Scuderia to their third Grand Prix podium of the year, with Hamilton missing out in P6 as he lost a late fight with Norris.<\/p>\n The Briton undoubtedly showed flashes of the strong performances that kickstarted his season by fighting his way up to third at the Safety Car restart, but he later reported that struggles with power ended up with him tolerating a \u201cpretty terrible weekend\u201d.<\/p>\n Are Red Bull in a midfield battle?<\/p>\n While Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari battled towards the front of the race, Max Verstappen<\/a> and Red Bull<\/a> were nowhere to be seen as they languished on the fringes of the top 10.<\/p>\n The four-time World Champion endured another miserable weekend in 2026 at Suzuka, a venue where he had previously taken pole position and the victory for four years in succession.<\/p>\n This time around, Verstappen failed to even progress into Q3 on Saturday and, after starting P11, could only climb to P8 after becoming stuck behind Pierre Gasly<\/a>‘s Alpine<\/a>, eventually finishing 32 second behind race winner Antonelli despite a mid-race Safety Car.<\/p>\n “Of course it\u2019s not where we\u2019d like to be, but at the moment I feel we\u2019re a bit more in that midfield battle than up at the front,” said Verstappen.<\/p>\n