Kimi Antonelli Dominates, Russell Stumbles in Japan

0:00On March 31st, Kimi Antonelli is owning the power rankings after the Japanese Grand Prix, snagging his second straight win from two races. Fresh off Pol in China, the young Italian outpaced teammate George Russell in qualifying, recovered from a bad start and capitalized on the safety. Car to dominate Suzuki. Our five-judge score drivers purely on performance, ignoring the car, and Antonelli crushed it at the top. Master Piosary finally broke through from McLaren with a strong third in qualifying, turning into second-on-race day, third time, lucky after crashes, and tech woes down under and in China. Pierre Gasley keeps shining outside the big teens, pulling points from Alpine in every round so far, including a gritty defense against Max Verstappen, to the flag. Charles LeClair battled to another podium for Ferrari, outdueling teammate Louis Hamilton in wheel-to-wheel action, and fending off a late charge from. Russell. Liam Lawson made the safety car work for him at racing bulls, climbing to ninth for

1:03back-to-back points, while Esteban Okan led Hoss qualifying and grabbed the point after his teammate's scary crash. George Russell had a rough one at Mercedes-Balance issues, poor starts, bad safety car timing, and battery glitches left him forth and cost him the championship lead to Antonelli. Orlando Norris limited damage with fifth, despite practice gremlins, and Fernando Alonzo notched Aston Martin's first finish of the year in 18th. Verstappen fought to eighth, but just missed the top ten cut, along with Carlos Signs and Nico Hulkenberg. The overall leaderboard is tightening up early in the 2026 season, setting the stage for more fireworks ahead. That's your update from F1 News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story.