(Motorsport-Total.com) – Winner: Kimi Antonelli
Few observers would have bet against a Mercedes driver leading the standings after the first races of the season. But even fewer would have bet that Antonelli would be the clear number one at the Silver Arrows after three race weekends of the season.
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Of course, various factors favored this lead over his teammate George Russell, but the young Italian will hardly care. He is focusing on what he can control: his own performance. This has been excellent so far, controlled, and showed growing maturity.
Being the youngest championship leader in history looks good on a CV. But becoming the youngest world champion would be even better. While it is still early in the season and Russell’s experience will likely pay off over the year, there are fewer and fewer arguments against a title win for Antonelli.
Loser: George Russell
Russell is currently struggling with his luck. After a technical problem in China cost him pole position, the streak of bad luck continued in Japan. A weak start was followed by the worst possible timing of a safety car phase. This gave Antonelli a favorable pit stop immediately after Russell had completed his regular service.
“In racing, sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t. At the moment, it feels like every problem has occurred on my side over the last two weekends and I have to endure this pain,” explained the Briton, visibly frustrated.
Even though he tried to remain philosophical in front of the cameras, his disappointment was evident. Mercedes must not take the current lead for granted given the upcoming development races.
Winner: Oscar Piastri
For McLaren, it was already progress just to be on the grid, but Oscar Piastri did far more than just the basic work. He himself described the Japanese Grand Prix as one of the best races of his career. Even looking back at Baku 2024 or Zandvoort 2025, it’s hard to disagree with him.
Piastri kept the actually superior Mercedes of Russell behind him for much longer than could have been expected. Although track position played a decisive role, McLaren enters the April break significantly strengthened.
Loser: Ferrari
While McLaren is getting a better grip on Mercedes power, the Woking-based team seems to have overtaken Ferrari – a fear that Lewis Hamilton already expressed on Saturday.
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Charles Leclerc drove an excellent race and proved his skills in duels with Hamilton and Russell, but Ferrari urgently needs to improve in the areas of aerodynamics and powertrain to keep up with the Mercedes power at the front. Leclerc only benefited from Russell’s battery problems, while Hamilton complained of a mysterious loss of power.
Winner: Pierre Gasly and Alpine
After Alpine finished the 2025 season at the bottom of the table, the team seems to have made good use of the sacrificial year. Pierre Gasly is now regularly converting his strong qualifying form into points.
Teammate Franco Colapinto also showed a good performance despite a difficult qualifying and almost scored points for the second time in a row, but was disadvantaged by the safety car timing.
Loser: Williams
Williams and Alpine seem to have swapped places compared to last year. Team principal James Vowles described Sunday as a “painful reckoning.” When a team has to treat a Grand Prix like a test session, it’s rarely a good sign.
Carlos Sainz did not get beyond 15th place from 16th on the grid, while Alexander Albon sacrificed a possible result in favor of a test program for Miami. Despite having the best engine in the field, Williams has disappointed across the board so far, after spending the entire year 2025 preparing for these regulations.
Loser: Red Bull
Despite praise for the internally developed engine, Red Bull is in a bind with the chassis of the RB22. The team’s ability to completely overhaul and improve a car after practice does not seem to apply to this model. The fundamental problems are clearly weighing on Max Verstappen’s mood.
Team principal Laurent Mekies is not sugarcoating the situation and hopes that Verstappen’s mood will improve along with the car’s performance. Fans of the world champion will hope that Mekies is right, as the Dutchman seemed more apathetic in Suzuka than almost ever before in his career.
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