Mercedes’ Italian driver Kimi Antonelli celebrates with his team after winning the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix.
Photo: photosport
Kimi Antonelli won the Japanese Grand Prix for Mercedes to become the youngest Formula One championship leader at the age of 19, while Liam Lawson unfurled another sound drive to place ninth.
The 19-year-old Italian, who had started from pole but quickly dropped back to sixth, crossed the line 13.7 seconds clear of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completing the podium.
Antonelli’s teammate George Russell crossed the line fourth with world champion Lando Norris fifth in the other McLaren ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
Antonelli’s Suzuka win gave him a nine-point lead over Russell in the overall standings.
Haas driver Oliver Bearman was given the all-clear by doctors after limping away from a high-speed crash.
Lawson in the points
Lawson snared points for Racing Bulls for the second successive round after a solid drive in the middle of the field.
Racing Bulls’ New Zealand driver Liam Lawson during the Japanese Grand Prix.
Photo: AFP
After starting 14th on the grid, he improved five places overall thanks to a sharp start and some fortune with a safety car race restart.
The 23-year-old had advanced two places by the first corner thanks to others going backwards
Then Lawson enjoyed a stroke of luck when Bearman hit the wall to exit the race.
The Kiwi had yet to pit at that stage and he was able to do so behind a safety car without losing a place, having found himself in ninth.
Lawson held firm and finished a place ahead of team-mate Arvid Lindblad, after the rookie had started four places ahead of him on the grid.
Despite picking up two points, Lawson drops one place on the overall standings after three rounds, to 10th, having been passed by Piastri.
It comes two weeks after Lawson finished seventh in China, having opened the season with a 13th placing at the Australian Grand Prix.
– Reuters, with additional reporting from RNZ