F1 Standings 2026: Latest points leaders after the Japanese Grand Prix

The chequered flag has been waved over the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix and after Sunday's race at Suzuka we now have a new F1 championship leader.

During the opening stages of the Japanese GP it was Oscar Piastri who led most of the race and flew off the line ahead of Mercedes, while polesitter Kimi Antonelli had a terrible start and dropped down to sixth.

A safety car on lap 22 played perfectly into the teenager's hands however, allowing him to jump ahead of his rivals who had all pitted. Antonelli managed to get ahead on the safety car restart and stay in front until to take the chequered flag, earning his second consecutive race victory.

Meanwhile, team-mate George Russell was stuck in a battle for the final podium positions with the Ferraris but could only bring his Mercedes home in fourth, with Charles Leclerc completing the podium in third.

Subsequently, Russell has lost his spot as championship leader and been usurped by Antonelli, who has also become the youngest championship leader in F1 history.

Here are the full championship standings after the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix.

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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