Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes secured his second consecutive victory at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, making him the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the world championship standings at just 19 years old.

After a challenging start from pole position, Antonelli capitalized on a mid-race safety car to regain his lead, finishing 13.722 seconds ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri, with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc coming in third, 1.548 seconds behind.

Joyfully crossing the finish line at Suzuka, he exclaimed to his team, "the pace was unbelievable today."

With this victory, Antonelli now holds 72 points, leading the championship by nine points after three races, building on his first career Grand Prix win two weeks ago in China.

"Of course, it's still too early to think about the championship, but we're on a good path," Antonelli stated.

"I can't predict what the outcome would have been without the safety car, but it certainly made my life much easier."

His Mercedes teammate, George Russell, finished fourth and slipped to second in the championship standings with 63 points, while Leclerc is third with 49 points.

Russell had a strong battle with Piastri for the lead in the race's early stages but pitted just before the safety car was deployed, which diminished his chances of winning.

Piastri finished second in his first Grand Prix of the season after missing the previous race in China due to a technical issue and crashing on his way to the grid in Australia.

Leading for the first half of the race, Piastri remarked, "It would have been fascinating to see what would have happened without that."

'A pretty good place'

"It's unfortunate that we didn't get to see what would have occurred, but for us to feel disappointed about finishing second is a pretty good place to be," he added.

McLaren’s world champion Lando Norris took fifth place, ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly.

Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen, who had won in Japan for the last four years, finished eighth after starting from 11th on the grid.

Antonelli had previously set the record as the youngest pole-sitter in F1 history in China and found himself leading the grid again, although he experienced a poor start, falling to sixth by the first corner.

Piastri took the early lead ahead of Leclerc, with Norris, Russell, and Hamilton all overtaking Antonelli.

However, he regained some positions when a crash involving Haas driver Ollie Bearman brought out the safety car during the pit stop window.

Piastri had already pitted, but Antonelli managed to dive in for fresh tires just after the safety car was deployed, emerging ahead of the Australian, which effectively secured his victory.

Bearman exited his car unaided but was seen limping significantly as race marshals assisted him off the track. Haas later reported he sustained a "right knee contusion," with initial X-rays revealing no fractures after his high-speed collision with the barrier.

Formula One is set for an extended break until the Miami Grand Prix on May 3, as the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races scheduled for April have been canceled due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

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