FACTS AND STATS: Mercedes rookie Antonelli becomes youngest ever race leader and fastest lap holder

Max Verstappen’s vice-like grip on Suzuka supremacy continued in 2025’s edition of the Japanese Grand Prix, but the World Champion’s fourth successive win here was far from the only fascinating fact to emerge after a tense 53 laps…

• Verstappen is unbeaten in Qualifying or the race at Suzuka since 2019.

• Verstappen is the first driver ever to win four Grands Prix in a row at Suzuka.

• It was Verstappen’s 64th career win, exactly double the total of Fernando Alonso.

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• Verstappen’s win gave Honda victory at their home circuit in their final Suzuka appearance with Red Bull.

• Red Bull become the first team to win eight times at Suzuka, surpassing McLaren and Ferrari.

• Verstappen had only led two laps this season before today.

• Lando Norris finished second and leads the Drivers’ Championship by one point over Verstappen.

• Norris has not finished lower than second in a Grand Prix this season.

• With Oscar Piastri following Norris home in P3, McLaren have now scored more podium finishes at Suzuka (26) than any other constructor.

• Piastri scored points for the 29th consecutive race weekend (the longest active streak in F1).

• Verstappen, Norris and Piastri were separated by 0.044s in Qualifying, but finished in that order in the race.

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• Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished fourth at Suzuka for the third consecutive season.

• Leclerc’s P4 is Ferrari’s best Grand Prix result of the season, even including China, where Leclerc finished fifth before disqualification.

• Today was Leclerc’s 150th Grand Prix start.

• The top four finished in the same order as they did in the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.

• At Mercedes, George Russell’s P5 was his best career finish at Suzuka.

• Team mate Kimi Antonelli finished in P6, in the process becoming the youngest driver ever to lead a Grand Prix (18 years 224 days).

• Antonelli also set the fastest lap and again is the youngest driver to do so (surpassing Verstappen at 19 years 44 days in Brazil 2016).

• The top six finished in grid order for the first time on a permanent race track in F1 history (Monaco 2018, Singapore 2018, and Monaco 2024 are the others – that’s discounting the one-lap 2021 Belgian Grand Prix).

• Lewis Hamilton’ P7 was his best Grand Prix result since joining Ferrari.

• Hamilton was the only top-10 starter to gain a position during the Grand Prix.

• At Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar secured his maiden points finish in F1 with P8.

• Racing Bulls scored for the first time this season.

• Williams’ Alex Albon’s P9 finish ended a run of three consecutive retirements at Suzuka for the Thai driver.

• Albon scored his first points at Suzuka since 2019.

• With P10, Oliver Bearman gave Haas their first points at Suzuka since 2018.

• Bearman has now scored in consecutive Grands Prix.

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• Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, with P11, reached the chequered flag in a Grand Prix for the first time this season.

• Red Bull’s new recruit Yuki Tsunoda took P12, matching Liam Lawson’s result in this car at the last Grand Prix.

• All 20 cars were classified as finishers for the fifth time since the start of last season, and the third time in Suzuka history (after 2015 and 2016).

• There has been only one mechanically-related retirement at Suzuka since 2018 (Zhou Guanyu's gearbox failed in 2024).

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