Youngest F1 title leader Antonelli to keep 'raising bar' after Japan win

Suzuka, Japan: Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli vowed to "keep raising the bar" after winning Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings.

The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Antonelli's Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell.

Mercedes are struggling to contain the excitement building around their young driver, even if Antonelli said he was "not thinking too much about the championship".

"Of course it's great but it's still a long way to go and I need to keep raising the bar, because George is very quick," he said.

"For sure he's going to be back at his usual level and also competitors will eventually get closer."

Antonelli led home Piastri by 13.722sec, with Leclerc a further 1.548sec back in third.

Russell finished fourth to drop to second in the championship standings on 63 points. Leclerc is third on 49.

Russell battled Piastri for the lead over the first half of the race but pitted just before the safety car which dropped him out of contention for the win.

Piastri secured second in his first grand prix start of the season, after crashing on his way to the grid in the opener in Australia and missing the race in China because of a technical problem.

Piastri led for the first half of the race before the safety car gave Antonelli his chance.

"It would have been really interesting to see what would have happened without that," said Piastri.

"A shame that we never got to see what would have happened, but I think for us to be disappointed at this point about finishing second is a pretty good place to be."