Round 3 · 29 Mar 2026

Japanese Grand Prix

2026-03-29_Race · 53 laps · 22 entries · from the f1 database

Executive summary

Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) won from pole by 13.722 s over Oscar Piastri (McLaren), with Charles Leclerc third— sealing it with the fastest lap (1:32.432 on L49, on new hards).

The start-compound split: 21 drivers on mediums, BOT alone on hards. The race was shaped by a lap-22 safety car that stacked 8 cars into the pit lane in one wave, with ≈6 laps run under caution.

ANT did not lead wire-to-wire: the lead changed hands 5 times, with PIA (laps 2–7 and laps 9–17) and RUS (lap 8 and laps 18–20). 2 DNFs: STR (lap 30, DNF in the pits), BEA (lap 20, DNF in the pits). ANT leads the championship on 72 points, 9 clear with 540 points still available in 20 rounds.

Official race poster for the Japanese Grand Prix 2026

Key facts

Winner

ANT

+13.722 s

Fastest lap

ANT

1:32.432 L49

Lead changes

6 stints in front

Cautions

1 SC · 0 VSC

red flag ×0

DNFs

STR, BEA

Championship

ANT

leads by 9 pts

Session timeline

Local	Lap	Event
13:18	1	FORMATION LAP WILL START AT 14:10
13:30	1	GREEN LIGHT - PIT EXIT OPEN
13:40	1	PIT EXIT CLOSED
13:51	1	RISK OF RAIN FOR THE F1 RACE IS 0%
14:05	1	2 Yellow flag
14:14	1	GREEN LIGHT - PIT EXIT OPEN
14:47	22	2 Yellow flag
14:48	22	4 Safety car deployed
14:57	26	LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE THE SAFETY CAR: 77
15:00	27	SAFETY CAR IN THIS LAP
15:42	53	CHEQUERED FLAG

Merged from TrackStatus transitions and race control messages · times local (UTC+9) · lap attribution from the winner's lap completions

Lap-time progression

Click legend entries to isolate drivers · scroll/zoom inside the chart · every lap is drawn · y-axis spans fastest lap → fastest +30%, slower laps clip at the top

Race progress

Grid position (lap 0) → final standing · P1 at the top · a driver's line stops where they went out (DNF) · click legend entries to isolate drivers

Tyre strategies & pit stops

Fastest stationary stops

#	Driver	Lap	Stop	Lane	via
1	HAM	22	2.0 s	22.9 s	series
2	LEC	17	2.1 s	23.0 s	stop feed
3	PIA	18	2.4 s	23.4 s	stop feed
4	ANT	22	2.4 s	23.3 s	stop feed
5	NOR	16	2.5 s	23.3 s	stop feed
6	BOR	22	2.6 s	24.6 s	series
7	STR	24	2.6 s	23.5 s	stop feed
8	ALB	45	2.7 s	23.1 s	stop feed

Median stationary stop 2.9 s over 25 timed stops in the feeds. The three pit feeds overlap and miss a few cars — stop counts in the classification table are from live timing and authoritative; timings here are best-effort merges.

0 drivers started on intermediates; the biggest pit wave came on lap 22 (8 cars) — the simultaneous compound switch is visible across the field.

Corner analysis

Average speed by position around the lap — ANT vs RUS, laps 3–12 (shared clean window), car positions normalised per lap from the start/finish line; C-labels are auto-detected apexes.

ANT is quicker through 64 of 120 track segments vs RUS (55 to RUS); biggest edges: ANT +82 km/h at 76% distance, RUS +42 km/h at 91%.

Penalties & steward decisions

Lap	Car	Decision / message
4	18 STR	CAR 18 (STR) LAP DELETED - TRACK LIMITS AT TURN 13 LAP 1 14:15:19
12	87 BEA	CAR 87 (BEA) TIME 1:37.790 DELETED - TRACK LIMITS AT TURN 13 LAP 11 14:31:24
15	41 LIN	BLACK AND WHITE FLAG FOR CAR 41 (LIN) - MOVING UNDER BRAKING
21	11 PER	CAR 11 (PER) TIME 1:38.735 DELETED - TRACK LIMITS AT TURN 13 LAP 20 14:46:19
30	43 COL+87 BEA	TURN 13 INCIDENT INVOLVING CARS 43 (COL) AND 87 (BEA) NOTED
31	43 COL+87 BEA	FIA STEWARDS: TURN 13 INCIDENT INVOLVING CARS 43 (COL) AND 87 (BEA) REVIEWED NO FURTHER INVESTIGATION
31	41 LIN	CAR 41 (LIN) TIME 1:35.724 DELETED - TRACK LIMITS AT TURN 17 LAP 30 15:06:35
32	43 COL	CAR 43 (COL) TIME 1:43.165 DELETED - TRACK LIMITS AT TURN 13 LAP 21 14:47:52
45	44 HAM	TURN 16 INCIDENT INVOLVING CAR 44 (HAM) NOTED - LEAVING THE TRACK AND GAINING AN ADVANTAGE
46	44 HAM	CAR 44 (HAM) TIME 1:33.636 DELETED - TRACK LIMITS AT TURN 17 LAP 44 15:28:16
48	44 HAM	FIA STEWARDS: TURN 16 INCIDENT INVOLVING CAR 44 (HAM) REVIEWED NO FURTHER INVESTIGATION - LEAVING THE TRACK AND GAINING AN ADVANTAGE
51	14 ALO	CAR 14 (ALO) TIME 1:37.112 DELETED - TRACK LIMITS AT TURN 17 LAP 49 15:37:30

Championship state

ANT leads the championship on 72 points, 9 clear with 540 points still available in 20 rounds.

Drivers

Pos	Driver	Team	Points	This race	Model
1	ANT	Mercedes	72	+25	72
2	RUS	Mercedes	63	+12	63
3	LEC	Ferrari	49	+15	49
4	HAM	Ferrari	41	+8	41
5	NOR	McLaren	25	+10	25
6	PIA	McLaren	21	+18	21
7	BEA	Haas F1 Team	17	+0	17
8	GAS	Alpine	15	+6	15
9	VER	Red Bull Racing	12	+4	12
10	LAW	Racing Bulls	10	+2	10
11	LIN	Racing Bulls	4	+0	4
12	HAD	Red Bull Racing	4	+0	4
13	BOR	Audi	2	+0	2
14	SAI	Williams	2	+0	2
15	OCO	Haas F1 Team	1	+1	1
16	COL	Alpine	1	+0	1
17	HUL	Audi	0	+0	0
18	ALB	Williams	0	+0	0
19	BOT	Cadillac	0	+0	0
20	PER	Cadillac	0	+0	0
21	ALO	Aston Martin	0	+0	0
22	STR	Aston Martin	0	+0	0

Constructors

Pos	Team	Drivers	Points	This race	Model
1	Mercedes	ANT · RUS	135	+37	135
2	Ferrari	HAM · LEC	90	+23	90
3	McLaren	NOR · PIA	46	+28	46
4	Haas F1 Team	BEA · OCO	18	+1	18
5	Red Bull Racing	HAD · VER	16	+4	16
6	Alpine	COL · GAS	16	+6	16
7	Racing Bulls	LAW · LIN	14	+2	14
8	Audi	BOR · HUL	2	+0	2
9	Williams	ALB · SAI	2	+0	2
10	Cadillac	BOT · PER	0	+0	0
11	Aston Martin	ALO · STR	0	+0	0

Standings snapshots at this round from the feed (constructors = driver points summed per team they scored them for) · Model = live projection's final predicted points

Weather conditions

Classification

Pos	Driver	Team	Grid	Gap	Stops	Best lap	Tyre	Pts
1	ANT	Mercedes	1	—	1	1:32.432 L49	HHard	25
2	PIA	McLaren	3	+13.722	1	1:32.996 L49	HHard	18
3	LEC	Ferrari	4	+15.270	1	1:32.634 L53	HHard	15
4	RUS	Mercedes	2	+15.754	1	1:32.549 L53	HHard	12
5	NOR	McLaren	5	+23.479	1	1:33.208 L52	HHard	10
6	HAM	Ferrari	6	+25.037	1	1:32.777 L48	HHard	8
7	GAS	Alpine	7	+32.340	1	1:33.691 L39	HHard	6
8	VER	Red Bull Racing	11	+32.677	1	1:33.552 L41	HHard	4
9	LAW	Racing Bulls	14	+50.180	1	1:34.230 L53	HHard	2
10	OCO	Haas F1 Team	12	+51.216	1	1:34.256 L53	HHard	1
11	HUL	Audi	13	+52.280	1	1:33.732 L47	HHard	0
12	HAD	Red Bull Racing	8	+56.154	1	1:33.837 L53	HHard	0
13	BOR	Audi	9	+59.078	1	1:34.164 L40	HHard	0
14	LIN	Racing Bulls	10	+59.848	1	1:34.314 L53	HHard	0
15	SAI	Williams	16	+65.008	1	1:34.514 L38	HHard	0
16	COL	Alpine	15	+65.773	1	1:34.512 L41	HHard	0
17	PER	Cadillac	19	+92.453	1	1:35.637 L53	HHard	0
18	ALO	Aston Martin	21	1L	2	1:36.221 L47	MMedium	0
19	BOT	Cadillac	20	1L	1	1:36.269 L52	MMedium	0
20	ALB	Williams	17	2L	6	1:33.427 L51	MMedium	0
DNF	STR	Aston Martin	22	23L	3	1:37.217 L29	MMedium	0
DNF	BEA	Haas F1 Team	18	33L	1	1:35.604 L20	HHard	0