Fernando Alonso welcomed his first child into the world ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix. The 44-year-old Spaniard skipped his media duties and the first free practice of the session to be with his partner, Melissa Jimenez. Although Alonso tends to keep his personal life private, he did confirm that “it went well, both for the mum and the baby.”
Max Verstappen participated in the opening round of the NLS season, winning the race only to be disqualified. Verstappen shared his Mercedes-AMG GT3 car with Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella for the 58th ADAC Barbarossa Prize at the Nurburgring. The trio won the event after four hours of racing, finishing nearly a full minute ahead of the #99 BMW. However, the stewards stripped the team of their win because they had accidentally used an extra set of tyres during the weekend. The mistake was made when the team fitted an unplanned set of soft tyres during qualifying, leading them to go over their allocation of tyres.
Mercedes set the pace in the first free practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix, with George Russell leading the way by only 0.026s over his teammate. It was a relatively orderly session, with the Ferrari drivers setting the pace early in the session. They would eventually finish the session in P5 and P6 behind both McLaren drivers. There were some incidents, mostly for Alex Albon. The first was when he ran wide through the gravel at Degner 2 and clipped the barrier. In the closing minutes of the session, he was also involved in a collision with Sergio Perez while attempting to overtake the Mexican on the inside of the final chicane. There was a rookie in the mix for Aston Martin, as Jak Crawford took over Fernando Alonso’s car. He finished at the bottom of the timing sheets.
Oscar Piastri was the driver to beat in the second free practice session. Kimi Antonelli very nearly managed to just that, but fell 0.092s short, and was still ahead of teammate George Russell. Lando Norris was fourth fastest in the session, despite being stuck in the garage with a hydraulic leak early on. Sergio Perez was another driver who missed the start of the session as the team worked to repair floor damage from FP1. Gabriel Bortoleto also had reduced running due to an issue with his Audi, while Arvid Lindblad was mostly absent from the session after encountering a technical issue on his outlap.
Mercedes returned to the top spots in the final free practice session of the weekend, with Kimi Antonelli comfortably outpacing his teammate. Charles Leclerc was the third-fastest, showing incredible driving skills to keep his lively Ferrari under control. Oscar Piastri was fourth fastest, splitting the two Ferraris. There were some technical issues on the other side of the McLaren garage, with Lando Norris losing the first half of the session to an energy recovery system replacement. The track was congested at times, as the teams worked to dial in their setups before qualifying. Valtteri Bottas encountered a slow-moving Oliver Bearman at the exit of 130R not once but twice. The British Haas driver had a scare of his own earlier in the session, spinning at the exit of Spoon but doing well to keep it out of the barriers.
Kimi Antonelli retained his top spot to give himself back-to-back pole positions in another Mercedes front-row lockout. Charles Leclerc was quickest in Q1, but Antonelli led the remaining sessions. Leclerc looked as though he could challenge for pole in Q3 but lost out due to a snap of oversteer on his final run, leaving him P4 behind Oscar Piastri, who hoped he would finally get to start a race this season. Max Verstappen’s pole streak in Japan came to an end, with the Dutchman failing to make it out of Q2. He was outqualified by his teammate again, with Isack Hadjar managing to earn P8 behind Pierre Gasly, who had an impressive performance in his Alpine.
Just two weeks after earning his first victory, Kimi Antonelli was back on the top step of the podium, converting his pole into a race victory. It wasn’t smooth sailing for the young Italian, suffering another bad start that dropped him down to P6. George Russell also had troubles getting off the line, falling to P4, although he recovered to P2 in the opening laps. Mercedes’ blunders left Oscar Piastri in the lead until he pitted on lap 19. Mercedes responded by pitting Russell a few laps later, but an unexpected safety car would hurt his chances at victory, while simultaneously giving his teammate, who hadn’t pitted yet, a net lead. The safety car was for Oliver Bearman, who suffered a heavy crash at turn 13 when he nearly collided with a slow-moving Franco Colapinto. Lewis Hamilton was another driver to benefit from a safety car pit stop, finding himself in P3. However, after he was overtaken by his teammate, he would drop further down to P6 by the end of the race. Leclerc managed to maintain P3, despite some late pressure from Russell in the closing laps. Antonelli’s victory gives him the lead of the World Drivers’ Championship, making him the youngest driver in history to do so. Click here to read our full summary of the Japanese Grand Prix.
The FIA has confirmed it plans to hold multiple meetings in April to assess the current state of the 2026 technical regulations and determine if any tweaks are necessary. This comes after some heavy criticism from drivers, media, and fans. Most of these criticisms surround energy management, which makes modern cars sometimes feel slow. As seen in the Japanese Grand Prix, the sometimes rapid speed difference between cars that are deploying and cars that are harvesting energy can also pose a potential safety issue.
There will be no racing in April due to race cancellations in the Middle East. This will give the teams lots of time to prepare upgrades in time for the Miami Grand Prix on the weekend of May 3.
It can be challenging for even the most avid fans to keep up with the fast-paced world of Formula One. The Weekly F1 Recap is a series published each Monday that breaks down the action, both on and off the circuit, into bit-sized pieces. It's perfect for casual and experienced fans alike.
