Having achieved a hat-trick of pole position, fastest lap and victory when he scored his breakthrough win in Shanghai, Andrea Kimi Antonelli repeated the feat for the second round in a row in Suzuka.
He therefore became the first teenager ever to win multiple Formula 1 grands prix. The only other driver to win a race in his teens – Max Verstappen – turned 20 before taking his second victory. Antonelli is the 82nd different driver to win multiple F1 races.
Antonelli’s win also propelled him to the top of the championship standings for the first time in his career. Two races earlier, George Russell did the same.
As there have been more seasons of F1 racing than there have been drivers who’ve led the world championship, new points leaders are ordinarily uncommon. But this is the second time in consecutive seasons two new ones have appeared.
In both cases they were team mates. McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri led the standings for the first time during 2025. Antonelli is the first Italian driver to lead the world championship since Giancarlo Fisichella won the season-opening round of 2005.
Not since 1953 have two consecutive grands prix been won by an Italian. The German and Swiss rounds were won by Giuseppe Farina and Alberto Ascari respectively, while the latter was the last Italian to win consecutive races earlier in the year at the Dutch and Belgian rounds.
After a miserable start to the season, in which he failed to start the first two grands prix, Piastri had something to smile about in Japan. He led his first laps this year and might even have won without the Safety Car.
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For the first time this year, every driver started the race. F1 therefore finally saw its first 22-car grand prix since the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Since then Manor have departed, Cadillac arrived and four teams changed identity: Renault to Alpine, Force India to Aston Martin, Toro Rosso to Racing Bulls and Sauber to Audi.
The ‘big three’ teams of 2026 so far occupied the top six places. Pierre Gasly took seventh and may finally have cause to be pleased he jumped ship from Red Bull’s junior division to Alpine three years ago: this is the first time in his career he has scored points in all of the first three rounds.
The same cannot be said for the driver who spent the second half of the race in a futile bid to pass the Alpine: Max Verstappen. He is yet to finish in the top five this season and has amassed just 12 points so far.
This is his worst start to a season since he made his grand prix debut with Toro Rosso in 2015. He took six points over those first three rounds. The following year, still at Toro Rosso before his sudden promotion to Red Bull, Verstappen scored 13 points over the opening three rounds (and unlike today did not have the benefit of an extra points-scoring sprint race).
Verstappen at least ensured Red Bull remain one of the seven teams to have scored points in all three rounds at the start of the year, the others being Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, Racing Bulls and Haas. This has never previously happened before in F1, though seven teams scored points over the first two rounds in 2012.
The 2012 season was also the last time a single F1 season featured a five-week gap between races. That year’s summer break spanned five weeks between the Hungarian and Belgian grands prix. However, unlike this year, that gap was planned rather than due to cancellations.
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Over to you
Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Japanese Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.
2026 Japanese Grand Prix
- Alpine denies “sabotaging” Colapinto and criticises social media “hate” posts
- Verstappen starts season with lowest score over three rounds since his debut in F1
- Poor starts a ‘very high priority’ for Mercedes as drivers lose 21 places in four races
- “Two balls of steel!” How Leclerc won his battery battle with Hamilton and Russell
- Was Bearman right to question Colapinto’s role in his huge Suzuka crash?
Published by
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