What we learned from Japanese GP: Antonelli makes history, McLaren's back

theScore's lead Formula 1 writer Daniel Valente offers his thoughts following each race weekend this year. Here are his biggest takeaways after the 2026 Japanese GP.

Antonelli is much more than a title contender

For the first time in Formula 1 history, a teenager is leading the drivers' championship.

While most Kimi Antonelli's age are just glad to be on top of their studies, the 19-year-old is on top of the F1 world. One race after his maiden win in China, Antonelli was victorious again in Japan, cementing himself as a legitimate title threat to teammate George Russell. The amount of history Antonelli has rewritten over the last two races proves he's going be front-runner for years to come.

• Youngest driver to lead the championship
• Youngest driver to qualify on pole
• Youngest driver to win consecutive races
• Only teenager in F1 history to win multiple races
• First Italian to win consecutive races since 1953

One look at the names that trail Antonelli in most of those categories shows the likes of Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Charles Leclerc, among others. There's not a single flash-in-the-pan driver. All of them went on to become top drivers.

There will be questions over whether Antonelli was the recipient of good luck. He inherited the lead Sunday after a safety car on Lap 22 played in his favor. Had it come one lap earlier, Russell would have emerged as the leader, but that's the way the cards were dealt. Let's not forget that Antonelli had his teammate's number seemingly all weekend, outqualifying him for a second race in a row. Antonelli's only blemish was another poor start, which dropped him to sixth after Lap 1. Still, he managed to overcome his nightmare start by pumping in blistering lap times before the safety car, which likely contributed to Mercedes leaving him out.

You can call Antonelli lucky, or you say the faster Mercedes driver was restored to his rightful position. We'll just call him championship leader. It sure feels like we all better get used to that, too.

The Verstappen Era is truly over

The era of Verstappen may have officially come to an end in Abu Dhabi last year when Lando Norris ended the Dutch driver's four-year championship reign. But if there was any more confirmation needed that the Verstappen Era that many either awed at or loathed has wrapped up, Sunday in Suzuka did the job.

It was after the race - a measly eighth-place finish - that the 28-year-old brought up the idea of retiring, adding that his lack of enjoyment over the new cars is hampering his motivation.

It's not the first time that Verstappen's floated retiring in the future, but this time felt different.

The biggest difference compared to times in the past when Verstappen mentioned walking away from F1 for other series to now, is that he was doing so while in a front-running car, and not yet fully dabbling into other racing competitions.

Verstappen is stuck in the midfield in F1 with a substantial gap to the front. Red Bull is in its inaugural year of being a power unit manufacturer, making it difficult to imagine a quick turnaround to catch the likes of legacy producers like Mercedes and Ferrari. A move to Mercedes - always a popular paddock rumor - has never looked more lifeless, with Toto Wolff saying this weekend that's "not on" the table right now. But what Verstappen does have is a career waiting for him outside F1 in the form of endurance racing. He's already participated in two races at the Nurburgring and is prepping for the 24-hour race at the circuit in May.

Stuck in a series that he isn't enjoying while driving a car that seems cemented to be decent, but never good enough, raises the question: what's keeping Verstappen around if he knows there are more enticing options?

It's hard to think of an answer.

McLaren has caught Ferrari

"Turns out we're alright once we start."

Oscar Piastri's words after he finally made his first grand prix race start of the season had to feel like a massive relief. Judging by his race in Suzuka, I'd wager that McLaren is more than just alright. The reigning constructors' champions seem to have what it takes to be the biggest foil to Mercedes' plans for domination. While Ferrari had been the Silver Arrows' clear cut rival through the first two races, that might not last much longer if McLaren keeps demonstrating the pace it showed in Japan.

It took only seconds for Piastri to seize the lead Sunday. For a large portion, it seemed like the Australian could even win. An ill-timed safety car effectively eliminated that thought, but he was able to bag the next best thing: second place and a podium.

After battling power unit gremlins in Australia, and both drivers not starting in China, Suzuka was the first time the paddock saw what McLaren could do over a full weekend. Even Lando Norris showed encouraging signs despite not having the same feel for the track due to limited running in practice. The reigning drivers' champion qualified fifth ahead of Hamilton's Ferrari, and only 0.004 seconds off Leclerc. Norris has shown a knack to only get stronger as he gets more time in his machinery, which should only fuel McLaren's optimism.

McLaren's first significant upgrade package is scheduled for the next race in Miami. It was the Papaya's upgrade package in Miami that altered the course of their 2024 campaign, and began the trajectory toward championship glory. Maybe history will repeat once again.

Cadillac, Aston Martin make progress

It's not often in sports that a team will garner authentic praise for simply not being painfully poor, or for just finishing the event. But at the Japanese GP, two teams earned participant trophies they shouldn't be ashamed to display, as Cadillac placed somewhere other than last, and Aston Martin had a driver complete a race.

It took Cadillac only three races to not be the slowest team in F1. Both Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas qualified ahead of the Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. It appeared the team's upgrade package in Japan - a new diffuser and diffuser fence - correlated well, which should be a huge achievement for the team's factories.

Given where Cadillac started, the new outfit has steadily made progress across its first three race weekends. That's easily noticed not only by looking at the fastest Cadillac driver but the slowest as the team's operating window has gotten more consistent.

Aston Martin may have slipped behind Cadillac but the team came to Suzuka with more urgent matters on its hands, such as being classified as a race finisher for the first time. It's maybe not the homecoming that power-unit supplier Honda envisioned, but Alonso completing more than 90% of race distance is a huge building block for Aston Martin and the Japanese engine manufacturer.

That may seem like a low bar - especially considering their next closest effort was Stroll finishing 15 laps behind in Australia - but when your car looked closer to delivering nerve damage to its occupants than points, you take all the wins you can get.

F1 has a month to figure out how to fix qualifying

There will be 35 days before the next time the lights go out on the grid for another race. That gives F1 and the FIA plenty of time to come up with a stop-gap solution to address the biggest issues with the current regulations: the lack of thrill in qualifying.

And this weekend in Suzuka proved how dire the situation is.

The iconic circuit, known for its legendary Esses section and the unbelievable high-speed 130R corner, looked anything like a track designed for the highest-performing drivers on the planet. Despite being full throttle, drivers were losing speed taking the 130R corner as they were forced to charge their battery.

Alex Albon foreshadowed what was to come even before the weekend started, stating that there was no such thing as a high-speed corner in F1 anymore as everything has became a medium-speed turn due to the need for harvesting.

Alonso went a step further, saying that he believed 50% of the Aston Martin team could drive at Suzuka due to the cars being more management focused rather than driver based. He also called the high-speed corners a "charging station."

"Driver skill is not really needed anymore," Alonso said, according to Autosport. "You just need to back off the throttle or turn down the battery and you charge the thing."

That's not all. Ollie Bearman who was surprisingly knocked out in Q1, said afterwards that he believed perhaps a software glitch caused him to lose time on his initial run in the session. This is just one example of the other issues stemming from the over complication of the power units.

Leclerc, one of the sport's brightest one-lap wonders ever, called qualifying a "joke" after the session.

But nothing summed up the frustration toward the new cars quite like the controversy F1 found itself in after qualifying. Fans quickly pointed out that F1's distribution of the onboard footage of Antonelli's pole lap cut to a wide angle shot when he took the famous 130R corner. The sport said hours later that a technical issue was the reason why, which appears true, considering Antonelli's telemetry data is missing from the moment F1 cuts away from his onboard.

Regardless, it feels hard to blame fans too much for feeling suspicious. It wasn't long ago that there was backlash over F1 hiding comments criticizing artificial racing on a post celebrating the impressive number of overtakes in the Australian GP.

Instructed not to trust their eyes about the energy-starved cars, the viewers did just that in this weekend's onboard footage controversy. But the biggest dilemma for the sport is that the catastrophe that is qualifying is impossible to ignore now even if you try.

Daniel Valente is theScore's lead Formula 1 writer. Daniel has covered the sport for multiple years, conducting analysis and interviewing key figures inside the paddock. His expertise is breaking down data and discovering unique stats. Follow Daniel on X at @F1GuyDan.