Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings.
The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell.
Photo: Reuters
Mercedes are struggling to contain the excitement building around their young driver, even if Antonelli said he was “not thinking too much about the championship.”
“Of course it’s great, but it’s still a long way to go and I need to keep raising the bar, because George is very quick,” he said. “For sure he’s going to be back at his usual level and also competitors will eventually get closer.”
Antonelli led home Piastri by 13.722 seconds, with Leclerc a further 1.548 seconds back in third.
Photo: AFP
Russell finished fourth to drop to second in the championship standings on 63 points. Leclerc is third on 49.
Russell battled Piastri for the lead over the first half of the race, but pitted just before the safety car which dropped him out of contention for the win.
Piastri secured second in his first grand prix start of the season, after crashing on his way to the grid in the opener in Australia and missing the race in China because of a technical problem.
Piastri led for the first half of the race before the safety car gave Antonelli his chance.
“It would have been really interesting to see what would have happened without that,” Piastri said. “A shame that we never got to see what would have happened, but I think for us to be disappointed at this point about finishing second is a pretty good place to be.”
Meanwhile, Williams driver Carlos Sainz said Oliver Bearman’s crash yesterday had been an accident waiting to happen, and that F1 and the FIA must listen to calls for change.
Bearman’s Haas hit the barriers with a force of 50G at Spoon corner after approaching Franco Colapinto’s Alpine with a significant speed differential between the cars, the US-owned team said.
As the Haas swerved left to avoid contact, the car went onto the grass and through a marker board as the 20-year-old lost control at 308kph with the safety car then deployed in a key moment of the race.
Bearman, who was seen limping after getting out of the car, escaped without broken bones, but had a right knee contusion from the impact, Haas said.
Such speed differences on track have been highlighted as a consequence of the sport’s new engine era and regulations and drivers’ need to manage an increased electrical element.
Spaniard Sainz, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said drivers had feared just such an accident and called on the FIA to act.
“We’ve been warning them about this happening, this kind of closing speeds and this kind of accidents were always going to happen,” he said. “I’m not very happy with what we’ve had up until now. Hopefully we come up with a better solution that doesn’t create these massive closing speeds and [produces] a safer way of going racing.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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