Kimi Antonelli took victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, while George Russell finished fourth.
The Italian player took the second victory of his career by taking the top step of the podium in China in the last match; He also becomes the youngest driver to lead the Drivers’ World Championship and the first young driver to do so.
Kimi started from pole position but dropped a few places due to excessive wheel slip and finished the opening lap in 6th place.
His teammate also lost positions at the start; George fell behind the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton and the McLaren of Lando Norris.
Both riders raced back and gained positions, then cycled past to lead the race as the others stayed ahead.
George pitted to get ahead of Leclerc, maintaining the P2 position he had won earlier on the track, while Kimi continued driving.
The safety car was activated on the next lap after a heavy chassis from Ollie Bearman; Kimi and Lewis Hamilton, the only two frontrunners who had not yet stopped, took the opportunity to pit for the Hard tyre, with Kimi taking the lead.
Kimi handled the restart well and had a calm run from there to the checkered flag and victory.
George restarted in third place but lost his position to the Ferraris; first when approaching the harvest limit on the restart, and after experiencing an unexpected superclip a few laps later.
He gained a position by passing Lewis Hamilton and made several attempts in the final stages to pass Leclerc from 3rd place, but was unable to do so.
The team enters the upcoming mini-break of the season leading the Teams World Championship, with Kimi and George sitting first and second in the drivers’ standings.
Kimi Antonelli
It feels great to get my second win! I had a bad start from pole position and I was angry at myself for losing so many positions. When we were in free air with the medium tyre, I was able to improve my pace considerably. We were lucky with the timing of the Safety Car and that put us in the lead; It made my life so much easier! Who knows what would have happened if that hadn’t happened, but I felt like we had the pace to fight for the win today.
This is the best way to start this mini break of the season. I will enjoy the moment, but I will use the time well and think about where I can improve. As a team, despite winning the first three races, we know we need to continue to raise our game. We had a real challenge today and we know it won’t be easy to maintain this form. We look forward to making the most of the time before Miami and putting ourselves in a strong position when the season restarts.
george russell
We had a lot of bad luck this weekend and it’s unfortunate because we were definitely in contention for the win today. After a difficult start we managed to get back into 2nd place but stopped just one lap before the safety car came into effect. This changed the course of the race and unfortunately, after the restart in P3, we lost two more positions, first due to reaching the harvest limit, then due to an unexpected superclip. It was pretty frustrating, but that’s how racing is sometimes.
It’s clear from this weekend that our competitors are starting to optimize their cars much more. We’ve had a great start to the season, but as we saw today, our rivals are after us. The upcoming gap in the calendar will also give everyone a chance to develop further, so we know we’ll be a real challenger when we come back to Miami.
Toto Wolff, CEO and Team President
We had an exciting race today, lots of sacking, which wasn’t always the case at Suzuka. This is a new way of racing where you have to think strategically to both pass and make it last. It’s a huge challenge for both drivers and teams and makes the race very unpredictable.
Sometimes in races you have to get lucky and that was the case for Kimi today. He lost his positions at the start, but with some lucky timing he regained them with the safety car. While this helped him, his speed in the second half of the race showed what he was capable of. George was the exact opposite of this equation, making a pit stop just one lap before the safety car came out. He then lost more positions; first when it reaches the harvest limit on the restart and is low on usage, second with an unexpected super clip. He fought hard to return to fourth place but certainly had more than enough bad luck this weekend.
Andrew Shovlin, Director of Lineside Engineering
Congratulations on Kimi’s second victory. He had a really strong pace and took advantage of the safety car to take the lead, but once he got into that position he was able to control the race easily.
Kimi’s fortune was George’s misfortune. If we had stopped George one lap later he would have retained the lead for the restart. Coincidentally he lost another place to Lewis at the start of the lap when he reached his harvest limit too early and there was not enough battery for the restart. Then a bug in the software code triggered by pressing a button and shifting at the same time caused the power unit to go into super clip and charge the battery, which enabled Charles to overtake. He moved back to fourth but it was a frustrating afternoon for George.
There is clearly a lot we need to work on and understand in the next few weeks. We started the season great, but our rivals are getting closer. Fortunately, we have a few areas to improve and we will make the most of the space in the calendar to improve where we are not strong enough.
Automobile Magazine – English
