Antonelli concedes he needs ‘to raise game’ after frustrating race start in Japan

Despite winning in Japan by a considerable margin, Kimi Antonelli has admitted that he needs “to raise my game” when it comes to race starts, after he lost five positions on the opening lap.

After qualifying on pole position for the second round in a row the day before, the Mercedes driver found himself dropping down the order at lights out on Sunday thanks to a slow start, something which his team mate George Russell also struggled with.

Ferrari have developed a habit of executing great launches so far this season, but it was McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who surged from third to first off the line. He was joined by Charles Leclerc and their respective team mates down into Turn 1, quickly demoting Antonelli to P6.

After passing Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris on track, the Italian gained further positions as his rivals pitted for fresh tyres, eventually returning him to the lead before the Safety Car was deployed to help recovery of Ollie Bearman’s Haas.

“I was very annoyed with the start,” Antonelli said post-race. “I really need to find a way to do good starts because to be fair, it looked like we were doing a good job for the whole weekend.

“The start felt strong, but then in the race I think I just did a mistake and then that obviously put me in a really bad position. The pace was super strong and of course we were lucky with the outcome of the Safety Car, even though on the mediums we had really strong pace.”

Antonelli was able to save time during his pit stop and maintain first place under the Safety Car, which he controlled masterfully throughout the remaining laps to take the chequered flag 13.722s ahead of Piastri.

The Italian added: “Obviously I was lucky but all in all, it can happen. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it goes badly. This time, it went well for me and I’m very grateful for that.

“Now I’m going to enjoy the win but at the same time, I’m going to work hard on the areas where we need to improve. Of course we have [four] weeks now to recharge. I’m going to need to come back stronger and I need to raise my game because it’s not going to be easy.”

Once Antonelli evaded the challenge from Piastri on the restart, he went on to set the fastest lap of the race and came under little pressure from anyone behind.

The 19-year-old’s victory saw him storm to the top of the Drivers' Standings with 72 points, just nine more than team mate Russell who endured a “frustrating” weekend in which he failed to stand on the podium for the first time this season.

“I’m really happy with the pace,” Antonelli concluded. “I was feeling really good with the car and the pace was a very nice thing because on the hards, I was able to push, improving every lap.

“I was in a really nice rhythm so that was a lot of fun to drive... Very happy with that, and now a bit of rest. There’s a lot of work to do still. I’m excited to be back in Miami in [four] weeks’ time.”