Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli took his second win of the 2026 season at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday and now leads Mercedes team-mate George Russell by nine points in the drivers’ championship.
Russell was fourth at Suzuka, as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who had failed to start the opening two grands prix, finished second and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc claimed the final podium place in third.
Here are my driver ratings for how the drivers performed across the whole weekend in Suzuka.
Kimi Antonelli – 8.5 – Antonelli had a certain buzz about him after his breakthrough win in China and was immediately on the pace in Japan. Had the better of Mercedes team-mate George Russell in qualifying but another poor start saw him plummet down the order to sixth. While the car had pace, I don’t think the win was there without the luck of the safety car.
Oscar Piastri – 9 – When he does start a race, he scores big! Immediately on the pace and had an advantage baked in from Friday over McLaren team-mate Lando Norris with the world champion’s reliability issues. Nevertheless, a superb start to get both Mercedes by Turn One and then control the pace for the first stint. A real shame about the timing of the safety car but without it, Piastri could have stolen a win on Sunday.
Charles Leclerc – 8 – On top of his Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton from the get-go even with a car that was to neither drivers’ liking. Flew in qualifying and despite downplaying his final lap, he could have pipped Piastri for P2. Another blinder of a start on lap one and great wheel to wheel battling throughout, with some quite close call action with Hamilton. Fended off Russell right to the flag.
George Russell – 7 – Quick, as you’d expect, but ever since that small change to suspension in qualifying, Russell struggled for pace. Another poor start, not as bad as Antonelli’s but enough to cause him trouble. Dealt a bad card with the safety car but couldn’t exactly carve his way through the field and couldn’t find a way past Leclerc for the final podium place.
Lando Norris – 8 – Considering he could barely get a lap in some of the sessions, plagued with reliability issues and down to potentially his last battery, I’d say this was a sold recovery for Norris. There was clearly more pace to be had but given he hadn’t done any running on high fuel before the race, Japan was a job well done.
Lewis Hamilton – 6 – Never looked at home on board his Ferrari, slipping and sliding his way through practice and never looked to have Leclerc covered this weekend. Managed to get stuck in with a few battles and clearly wasn’t going to just get out of the way of his team-mate, which delivered us some more fun wheel-to-wheel action.
Pierre Gasly – 9 – My personal star of the weekend, alongside Piastri. The Alpine is clearly still tricky but Gasly is able to use all his experience to not only be best of the rest in qualifying but hold his own in the race too, despite Max Verstappen looming down his neck for the majority of the grand prix.
Max Verstappen – 6 – Another weekend where the car was not there for him. A fairly sizeable upgrade to the Red Bull seemed to make no difference, followed by further comments questioning his future.
Liam Lawson – 7 – Bit anonymous really from the Kiwi. An odd front wing issue prevented him from getting through into Q3 like his Racing Bulls team-mate Arvid Lindblad but Lawson never fully shone. A big benefactor of the safety car to allow him a cheap pit stop and get up into the points and keep Esteban Ocon at bay for P9.
Esteban Ocon – 7 – Welcome back to the points, Esteban. A much better weekend from the Frenchman. Not outstanding but proceeded through to Q2 and had the pace over Haas team-mate Oliver Bearman, who has been putting Ocon in the shade so far this year.
Nico Hulkenberg – 6 – A mistake cost him a Q3 effort and pitting too late to really benefit from the safety car during the race results in another missed points opportunity for the Audi driver.
Isack Hadjar – 6 – The good news is that Hadjar is not suffering from the curse of Red Bull second seat. Unfortunately, it just so happens that the car isn’t performing to the level it should be. Outqualified team-mate Verstappen but struggled in the race.
Gabriel Bortoleto – 6 – A second top-10 start for the year, undone by a rough lights-out. Recovered in the race but fell away towards the end.
Arvid Lindblad – 8 – Hugely down on laps in practice, knocked Verstappen out in Q2 and a brilliant start to the grand prix. Kept Hadjar behind in the early stages but ultimately his race was ruined by the safety car.
