The 2026 F1 Japanese GP ended with Kimi Antonelli picking up his second consecutive race win. The Italian driver now leads the champion as the season saw a podium with only one Mercedes driver for the first time.

In P2 we had Oscar Piastri, who took part in his first ever F1 race of the season. In P3, it was Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari as he held off George Russell in his Mercedes.

The F1 Japanese GP always has its unique challenges and even with the new cars it was no different. With that being said, how did each driver fare during the race weekend? Let’s take a look.

Criteria

• Performance in both qualifying and races.
• Results achieved compared to the car’s potential.
• Mistakes made over the weekend.
• Relative performance against teammate

2026 F1 Japanese GP: Rating the drivers

McLaren

Lando Norris

Rating: 7.5

Severely hampered by the lack of running in the F1 Japanese GP and in general. The reigning champion will be happy he got some points on the table and will be trying to build on this foundation.

It’s hard to give them a higher score if your teammate puts together an almost perfect weekend.

Oscar Piastri

Rating: 9.5

Oscar Piastri is not the loudest of drivers and he often catches everyone’s attention with what he does on the track. The Aussie nailed this weekend by putting together an almost perfect weekend.

There’s even a case to be made here that Oscar could have potentially won the F1 Japanese GP if not for the safety car.

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Mercedes

George Russell

Rating: 7

George Russell doesn’t lead the championship anymore as Suzuka proved to be his bogey track once again. The British driver has not been very lucky this season and the safety car timing hurt him.

While that did happen, we cannot deny the fact that the drivers did lack the outright pace of his teammate and being unable to pass the Ferraris or the McLaren of Oscar Piastri goes against him.

Kimi Antonelli

Rating: 9

The only place where Kimi Antonelli was a bit off? The start of the F1 Japanese GP. Even in a straightforward race there’s an argument to be made that young Kimi would have ended up coming out on top.

This is his second win now and the driver now leads the championship.

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Ferrari

Charles Leclerc

Rating: 10

Charles Leclerc made the difference for Ferrari by coming home in 3rd in the third fastest car on the grid. That was an impressive drive from the young driver as he once again asserted himself within Ferrari as the lead driver.

Lewis Hamilton

Rating: 7

Lewis Hamilton complained about deployment issues after the F1 Japanese GP but it did appear throughout the race weekend that the driver wasn’t too comfortable in the car. He will be looking to now go back, regroup, and put things together for the next race in Miami.

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Red Bull

Max Verstappen

Rating: 7.5

The upgraded Red Bull didn’t deliver the goods as the car was a handful. Max Verstappen was out qualified by his teammate but he made his way through the field in the race to end up in P8. The driver is already evaluating his future and it would be interesting to see what the future holds for him.

Isack Hadjar

Rating: 6.5

A strong qualifying followed by a somewhat disappointing race for Hadjar as he faded late in the F1 Japanese GP. As Max Verstappen made his way through the field, Hadjar went back and losing out to the two Audi drivers was certainly not the best outcome.

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Williams

Alex Albon

Rating: 5.5

Alex Albon has been frustrated in general with the new car and it didn’t make his mood any better when an issue with the Williams dropped him right back.

Carlos Sainz

Rating: 7

Carlos Sainz is marginally the better driver out of the two Williams drivers right now but it’s safe to say that neither had a hope of scoring points in the F1 Japanese GP. The driver did what he could in the car but there wasn’t much on the table.

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Racing Bulls

Liam Lawson

Rating: 7.5

Liam Lawson did get lucky with safety car timing that propelled him into points. He had been on the backfoot all weekend against his young teammate but once he leapfrogged multiple cars, he admirably kept his position as Esteban Ocon’s valiant attempts proved futile.

Arvid Lindblad

Rating: 7.5

Arguably the more impressive Racing Bulls driver, Arvid Lindblad was one of the drivers who was very unlucky when it comes to the safety car. One could argue that the timing cost him points but it’s also safe to say that he didn’t make much progress in the second half of the race either.

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Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso

Rating: 7

Alonso finished a race for the first time this season so that is a positive but there’s not much else to write home about for the Spanish driver. Aston Martin is too slow to be a factor anywhere at the moment.

Atleast he continued his streak of out qualifying his teammate.

Lance Stroll

Rating: 6

Unlike Fernando, Lance had to call it a day before he could see the chequered flag. The Canadian was a step behind his teammate throughout the F1 Japanese GP.

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Haas

Esteban Ocon

Rating: 7.5

Esteban Ocon picked up his first points of the season after he was once again unlucky with the safety car timing. The Frenchman has had a bad run recently as luck hasn’t been on his side but for the F1 Japanese GP he did have decent pace. He could have potentially finished in P9 but Liam Lawson put together a flawless defence.

Ollie Bearman

Rating: 5

A horror weekend for Ollie Bearman as the young Brit suffered from software issues in qualifying and then a massive crash during the F1 Japanese GP.

Fortunately for him, he’s got 5 weeks to recover from whatever bruising he might be facing at this point.

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Sauber

Nico Hulkenberg

Rating: 7.5

Nico Hulkenberg was massively compromised by a poor start, seemingly a feature of the Audi power unit. He made his way up to P11 but just missed out on points.

Gabriel Bortoleto

Rating: 7

Bortoleto had a stronger qualifying in the F1 Japanese GP as he was marginally shaded by his teammate in the race. No points for the Brazilian either in Suzuka.

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Alpine

Pierre Gasly

Rating: 9.5

Pierre Gasly is arguably putting together one of the best seasons out of any driver on the current midfield. The driver was almost flawless in the race as he kept Max Verstappen at bay throughout the F1 Japanese GP.

Franco Colapinto

Rating: 6.5

Franco Colapinto was a tad unlucky with the safety car timing but there’s no denying that he needs to work hard on his qualifying. He’s getting shaded by an round veteran in the other car and Flavio would not be too happy with where the Argentinian is at the moment.

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Cadillac

Valtteri Bottas

Rating: 6

Bottas didn’t have the smoothest of races but it is safe to say that for now the focus is just on improving the car for the future.

Sergio Perez

Rating: 6.5

Sergio Perez had a decent run in his Cadillac but there was only so much he could achieve in that car. Just like the majority of the grid, the Mexican laments these new cars and is calling for changes.