Winners and losers from F1's 2026 Japanese Grand Prix
A wild start and a mid-pitstop-sequence safety car massively mixed up Formula 1’s 2026 Japanese Grand Prix.
Here’s who came out best and worst from it all.
Loser: Oscar Piastri (2nd)
Oscar Piastri hadn’t even started a 2026 grand prix before today, let alone led over a third of a grand prix.
And on paper, second place should be considered a victory given Mercedes’ advantage this year.
And yet Piastri has to be classed as a loser from Suzuka Sunday because the safety car cost him a shot at an unlikely victory.
Kimi Antonelli’s pace after the safety car showed the Mercedes W17 was the clear Suzuka benchmark, but as Piastri had managed to contain George Russell for 22 laps, you have to wonder if he could have done the same to Antonelli in the second stint? - Josh Suttill
Winner: Kimi Antonelli (1st)
Antonelli was quick to admit after the race that the safety car set up his victory. And you can’t call this a straight fight defeat of team-mate (and you have to call him title rival too, as Antonelli’s just deposed him in the championship) Russell. And Antonelli admits he desperately needs to sort his starts out.
So there are caveats. But this is still two wins in a row and a world championship lead for a driver who’s just constantly looking more and more composed and making the most of every chance he gets. - Matt Beer
Loser: George Russell (4th)
It’s been a tough weekend for the driver many had already crowned the 2026 world champion, only for his Mercedes team-mate Antonelli to emerge over the last two races as the youngest ever points leader with a massive gap in races to haunt Russell now.
Like everything, context is needed. Without a safety car here or qualifying mechanical troubles in China Russell may well have ended on top both times.
Ultimately though, his execution in this race wasn’t stellar - though admittedly some of his problems were out of his hands.
The safety car is what cost him as he was well within striking range of erstwhile leader Piastri before that following slow starts for both Mercedes.
But being mugged by Hamilton on the restart was poor and he then had a deployment issue as Leclerc breezed past him in the easiest overtake of the race. There may have been more problems that he and Mercedes haven’t yet communicated,
What we can say is, however you slice this event, it’s been a massive loss for Russell. - Jack Benyon
Winner: Charles Leclerc (3rd)
Twice this season we’ve seen Ferrari get the better launch off the grid and ultimately lack a competitive edge compared to Mercedes, but third time’s the charm for Charles Leclerc.
In typical Leclerc fashion, he also “got a bit unlucky” with the timing of the safety car, although admitted it “wasn’t as much of a disadvantage” as he had initially expected.
In fact, it arguably helped him more than he could have planned. Leclerc was able to show his skill in battle against team-mate Lewis Hamilton and clinched his second podium of the year with two laps remaining. It was in some style too, with arguably the overtake of the season so far on Russell on the outside at Turn 1.
The fact he was finally able to beat a Mercedes driver in a straight fight should also be a good sign for the races to come. Even though Leclerc lamented that Ferrari didn’t provide him enough to fight Piastri for second, it was a more-than-solid effort to snag an unexpectedly well-fought podium. - Eden Hannigan
Loser: Ollie Bearman (DNF)
Thankfully, Ollie Bearman has escaped with only a bruised knee from 2026’s most frightening crash so far.
He lost control of his Haas VF-26 at 308km/h (191mph), highlighting a clear closing speeds problem F1 must address in the extended gap.
But it also marked a premature end to Bearman’s most difficult weekend of the year.
For the first time in 2026, he was resoundingly the second-best Haas driver and joining Esteban Ocon in the top 10 looked highly unlikely prior to his crash. - JS
Winner: Pierre Gasly (7th)
If you listened to Pierre Gasly talking about his expectations for Alpine’s 2026 rules turnaround prospects late last year, you’d assume he might be miserable now because he’s not Brawn-GP-ing his way to the championship.
But even if this isn’t quite where Alpine thought sacrificing 2025 and grabbing Mercedes engines might put it in 2026, it’s still the most consistently impressive the team has looked in a good while - and beating Max Verstappen’s Red Bull to seventh in a straight fight around Suzuka was a great achievement by Gasly. - MB
Loser: Isack Hadjar (12th)
Isack Hadjar was used as a stick to beat Verstappen with after outqualifying his four-time champion Red Bull team-mate, who’d previously effectively been unbeaten at this track since 2019.
But the race would play out much differently. The start was the biggest issue for Hadjar who dropped from eighth to 11th, then he pitted two laps before the safety car which had him down in 13th.
He did pass Nico Hulkenberg on lap 30 and Gabriel Bortoleto on lap 36, but never got close to taking Esteban Ocon, and that would prove problematic as Hulkenberg reclaimed his place and consigned Hadjar to 12th.
A very disappointing end to a race where Verstappen made up three spots and was almost the best of the rest in the midfield, narrowly failing to pass Gasly for seventh. - JB
Winner: Liam Lawson (9th)
Liam Lawson was shown up by his rookie Racing Bulls team-mate Arvid Lindblad in qualifying, but recovered well in the grand prix.
He benefited from the safety car timing, but Lawson had made solid progress before then anyway to be on the fringes of the top 10.
And it means three points finishes from four attempts in 2026 for Lawson, exactly the kind of solid points scoring form he needs to convince Red Bull he’s a benchmark worth retaining. - JS
Loser: Arvid Lindblad (14th)
The surprise package from qualifying, Lindblad just couldn’t convert his Saturday promise into a points finish on Sunday.
Lindblad has set expectations incredibly high after an impressive start to his rookie campaign, maybe even too high. Of course, he can be forgiven for taking one step forward and sometimes a couple backwards in such a difficult learning process - but he will know himself that these issues need to be ironed out quickly in the fast-moving world of F1.
The fact is, he went backwards from 10th on the grid and finished outside the points, while team-mate Lawson scored two despite starting four places behind. In terms of pure pace, he was comfortably the fourth-best driver with the new RB-PT power unit and limped home to 14th after a difficult start.
It could have been a worse Suzuka debut, for sure, but it is also one that promised so much more. - EH
Winner: Sergio Perez (17th)
Cadillac just beat an Aston Martin and a Williams to the finish in a grand prix. Admittedly it would’ve done part of that sooner had Aston Martin lasted longer before Japan, and admittedly Alex Albon’s race was pretty much written off by Williams. But Sergio Perez’s result still feels like the significant moment Cadillac’s first few F1 races deserved. And with no sign of imminent progress from Aston Martin, it might not be a one-off.
Finishing on the lead lap for the first time in a grand prix too is also praiseworthy, even though it was the safety car period that made that possible.
This was a decent weekend for Perez personally too, as he had the measure of team-mate Valtteri Bottas throughout. - MB
Loser: Franco Colapinto (16th)
Colapinto can’t be held responsible for the Bearman incident, as that was far more a consequence of the 2026 rules than anything Colapinto did wrong, hence the swift ‘no further action’ ruling from the stewards.
But Colapinto can be held responsible for a lacklustre weekend, over half a second off Alpine team-mate Pierre Gasly in qualifying and unable to recover that deficit in the race.
While Gasly led the midfield, Colapinto lost around a second per lap to Gasly after the safety car restart, ending up 33s down on Gasly in 16th place.
His China weekend was gently promising, but Suzuka marked a worrying slide back into ‘underperforming second driver’. - JS
