Andrea Kimi Antonelli admitted he was fortunate to win in Japan after losing his lead at the start of the race.
The Mercedes driver regained the lead thanks to the appearance of the Safety Car, which allowed him to lose less time when he made his pit stop.
Antonelli started the race from pole position but immediately dropped to sixth place. He regained two places and was running fourth when drivers in front of him began to pit.
By the time the Safety Car came out, Antonelli was back in the lead of the race. He held onto his lead at the restart and pulled away to win by over 13 seconds.
“I had a terrible start,” Antonelli admitted, “I just need to check what happened.
“Then I was lucky with the Safety Car to be in the lead, but then the pace was just incredible. It was a really nice second stint, I felt very good with the car and very pleased with that.”
He said his car’s pace was strong when he wasn’t in traffic, and was unsure whether he could have won without the Safety Car.
“Obviously we were very lucky with the Safety Car,” he said. “But on the medium [tyre] we were really strong once I got some free air. Then on the hard, the pace was just incredible.
“So I don’t know what would have happened, how the outcome would have been without the Safety Car, but definitely it made my life a lot easier.”
Antonelli plans to use the extended break, due to the cancellation of April’s two rounds, to practice his starts.
“Luckily I’ve got three weeks, so now I can practise some clutch drops just to get a better feel with it,” he said, “because definitely it’s been a weak point so far this year and I need to improve that because you can easily win or lose races with that.”
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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine