One of the greatest tracks in Formula One produced a strong race today, making it even more difficult to think about the long wait we now all face until Miami on the first weekend of May.
1953 was the last time an Italian won back-to-back Grand Prixs, but Kimi Antonelli finally put an end to that lengthy wait and got to the chequered flag first today, taking his second career win just two weeks after his first.
Becoming the first teenager to win multiple Grand Prixs, Antonelli will face a new kind of pressure going into the next race as he is now the championship leader with today’s result meaning he jumped his teammate George Russell in the standings.
The start of the race was not smooth sailing for the Mercedes team, though with both their drivers starting on the front row, but ending lap one in P4 and P6
It was the McLaren of Oscar Piastri who took the lead going into the first corner, but a big crash for Ollie Bearman meant that Antonelli could take advantage of a well-timed safety car and gain an extra 10 seconds on his competitors in the pits.
Embed from Getty ImagesAntonelli’s drive today was reminiscent of Lewis Hamilton and his dominating days in Mercedes. Yes, it was a rough start for the Italian, but once he was in front, he just stretched that gap out further and further with no concerns coming from the drivers behind.
Piastri ended the race in P2, which could be seen as disappointing because at one point, he looked to be on for the win, but when thinking about the fact that the Aussie hadn’t even managed to start a race this season before today, P2 is probably something to celebrate.
Lando Norris can also be pretty happy with his race today. After struggling through the practice sessions, points looked like they could be a challenge to get, but the hard work from him and his team meant that he finished in fifth today.
There were two retirements today, one being the earlier-mentioned Ollie Bearman. A 50G impact going into the barriers at Spoon Curve meant we saw the Haas driver limping as he exited his car and made his way over to the side of the track, but it wasn’t long before we heard news from the medical centre that an X-ray had been performed and there were no broken bones to report.
Lance Stroll was the other retiree from this race with a suspected water pressure issue. Aston Martin will have to see Fernando Alonso getting to the end of the race in P18 as a win today, with rumours still going around at the start of this weekend that the drivers would only be able to make it through half the race before having to retire due to the vibrations through the car and into the steering wheel.
Poor Alex Albon had a weekend to forget in Japan with bumps to the barriers, crashes and car issues in practice, an early exit from qualifying and finishing 20th and last of the running cars in the race.
Embed from Getty ImagesWith all the drivers other than Valtteri Bottas starting on the medium tyres, it looked set to be a pretty straightforward race strategy-wise, but with the hard tyres not looking too great, some teams having limited data about the tyres as well, and the addition of the safety car, the teams’ strategies are what won or lost them the race today.
There were no major surprises within the top 10, but after watching the first five laps, it didn’t look likely that Antonelli would make it back onto the podium, never mind back into first position.
We will have to wait and see if the 19-year-old can make it a three-peat next race and extend his championship lead even further over the rest of the field.
Make sure to head back over here in just over a month for the Miami Grand Prix, where I will be back to keep you up to date with everything you will need to know.