Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at Suzuka

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Kimi Antonelli took his second win in succession and the lead of the world championship after being gifted victory in the Japanese Grand Prix by a safety-car period.

The 19-year-old Italian had not yet made a pit stop, while his rivals for victory McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Mercedes team-mate George Russell had, when Oliver Bearman's Haas crashed heavily.

That gave Antonelli a pit stop that cost him less time than the others and ensured he could retain the lead.

A frustrated Russell, who finished fourth behind Piastri and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, said over the radio "unbelievable" as he realised Antonelli would beat him for the second consecutive race.

Antonelli becomes the youngest driver in history to head the championship and leads his team-mate by nine points.

Read the full report here

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Kimi Antonelli isn't old enough to drink at most of the circuits on the Formula 1 calendar, so the 19-year-old will have to make do with a lemonade to toast this lastest victory.

He now has control of the drivers' championship - the youngest driver to lead the title race - and is clear of team-mate George Russell by nine points. There's a lot for Russell to mull over as the sport now takes a five-week break due to the cancellations of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as a result of the war in the Middle East.

With no racing in April, teams and drivers get the chance to analyse the data and see where any improvements can be made before the next race in Miami, which takes place 1-3 May.

Thanks for joining us, folks. Another overnight stint in the bag.

Enjoy your Easter weekend and we'll see you again at the start of May!

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Carlos Sainz is chatting to Sky Sports in the media pen and as a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, the Spaniard has given his views on Oliver Bearman's crash during the race.

Bearman was closing at high speed on the Alpine if Franco Colapinto and as the two drivers as they approached the Spoon Curve, the Argentine drifted away from the racing line, causing Bearman on the inside to take action. However, the Briton ended up on the grass, losing control of the car before crashing heavily into the barriers.

Sainz said the drivers have been warning F1 bosses an accident like this was always going to happen. "Hopefully we come up with a solution that doesn't create these massive closing speeds, a safer way of going racing," said the Williams driver.

He added: "I was so surprised when they said they would sort out qualifying and leave the racing alone, it's exciting.

"As drivers, we have been extremely vocal that the problem is not only qualifying, it's also racing, and we were warning this type of accident was always going to happen.

"Here, we were lucky there was an escape road - now imagine going to Baku, Singapore, Las Vegas and having this type of closing speeds, crashes next to the walls."

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One voice we haven't heard from after the Japanese Grand Prix is George Russell.

The Mercedes driver now finds himself second in the championship, losing ground on his younger team-mate Kimi Antonelli following the Italian's successive victories and his P4 finish this weekend.

There are pictures of him in the media pen but for what his thoughts are on how Suzuka unfolded, we'll have to wait a little bit longer.

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff on race winner Kimi Antonelli: "He had a good race, except for the start, which requires him to go back to driving school with the clutches. He was fast when it mattered, he looked pretty great."

On George Russell's race: "I think that where things went wrong for George was during qualifying with the set-up, and then everything else during the race, like the safety car.

"There's a bug in the software. We thought it would give him an advantage by releasing energy, but what happened was a superclip and it ended up reducing the car's speed. That cost him his position to Leclerc and that's when things started to go south.

"We didn't do a great job in George's race."

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who finished eighth in Suzuka: "I don't think it was very good. Yesterday was a disaster, today in the race I just maximised my race but the feeling in the car is just the same as qualifying. I was just trying to hang on to it basically in the race."

On what he will do during the break: "Oh, I'll do some more racing, some stuff that makes me smile and at the same time speak to the team as well, to try and find more pace and some more stable balance because this is not sustainable for us as a team. We need to work hard to understand our problems and bring improvements."

On what the issues are with his car: "You can have a bad balance but that does not take away from how we have to race and, in general, of the whole system. That is the limitation, the drivers are speaking out on it. That is, of course, the biggest one for me. Of course I would like to win, but I can accept driving P7. The way I am driving P7 with the systems is not a lot of fun."

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella talking to Jennie Gow: "It's a positive day in which we confirm the progress that we saw yesterday in qualifying. We were able today to fight with the Mercedes, at least one of them. We were leading the race for a long part of it in the first stint. It's a shame for the safety car timing, I'm not sure we could have won the race but certainly we would have given it a go. Oscar drove extremely well, great start in the first start of the season for him. But we knew Oscar was doing very well, we saw how he was driving in practice and in qualifying so he deserves it. Good result overall for the team."

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Lewis Hamilton talking to Sky Sports about his race today after finishing P6: "Pretty terrible ultimately, because I was P3 and ended up going backwards. I just need to understand where I'm losing all the power. I had a real lack of power, particularly through the second stint. But for the majority of the race I couldn't keep up with people just for a lack of power."

"I'm full gas and I'm managing where I've been asked to manage and for some reason I was lacking power today so I need to figure out whether there's something wrong with the car or not. But still we got some points."

Mercedes only had one driver on the podium this week but Kimi Antonelli's victory hands them a 45-point advantage over second-place Ferrari after three rounds of racing.

McLaren stay third, 28 points clear of Haas in fourth, while Alpine have jumped a couple of places to fifth with Pierre Gasly's seventh at Suzuka. The French team are level with Red Bull on 16 points, with Racing Bulls two points behind.

1. Mercedes - 135

2. Ferrari - 90

3. McLaren - 46

4. Haas - 18

5. Alpine - 16

6. Red Bull - 16

7. Racing Bulls - 14

8. Audi - 2

9. Williams - 2

10. Cadillac - 0

11. Aston Martin - 0

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McLaren's Lando Norris speaking to Sky Sports after finishing fifth in Suzuka: "Clearly Oscar has showed a great race today, even from my side to get the Ferrari again in the end. Just clean air, it was crazy strong around here. Oscar controlled things well from the beginning."

On both McLarens' race starts: "We both had great starts, which was nice. It was nice to be first and third and relive that feeling. Plenty of good signs, from us as a team. The fact that we could have such a strong result even though we know we are still lacking in many areas. For us to still finish second and fifth, I think is a positive thing so I think today was a good day for us as a team to give a good kick to everyone, to tell them to keep the work going.

"Even though we have not changed much this weekend, it is just the track suited us, we obviously got a bit more out of it with the deployment and battery and the engine side of things so, just good signs. Some things are still a struggle. We both had the same complaints about the car and what the difficulties are. We are heading in the right track and that is a really good start."

On how he feels with his car: "I still don't feel as comfortable as I would like to feel in the car, no excuse but it is slightly down to the lack of running. Some of the things from today were from a degradation and battery point of view. Some of them are just having to figure it out on the go rather than having a try on Friday."

Kimi Antonelli, 19 years old and in his second season in Formula 1, now leads the drivers' championship for the very first time. The Italian's back-to-back wins from pole position put him nine points clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who was four points ahead of the teenager heading into round three.

Oscar Piastri's second place in Japan has lifted him up to sixth in the standings following his DNS in Australia and China and he's four points off team-mate Lando Norris before the next race in Miami in five weeks' time.

1. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) - 72pts

2. George Russell (Mercedes) - 63

3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 49

4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) - 41

5. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 25

6. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 21

7. Oliver Bearman (Haas) - 17

8. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) - 15

9. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 12

10. Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) - 10

Kimi Antonelli's race engineer Pete Bonnington talking to 5 Live's Jennie Gow: "It's a bit of a relief! You saw the absolute mess we made at the start, so yeah a little bit of practice required on clutch drops for Kimi. Saved by the safety car. Without it, I don't know, he has such great pace I reckon we could have carved our way to the front again. I think it was a really good learning experience and a great result. He's got great pace, just need to finish the final bit of polishing."

On what makes Antonelli special: "It's that extra little bit that you can't teach. It's just a natural talent. I never used to believe in natural talent but I think he's got that extra something. It's that extra couple of tenths that other drivers struggle to find."

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Just before the podium presentation, the top three drivers got to see Oliver Bearman's heavy crash in the Haas which triggered the safety-car period.

The imapct was 50G and Bearman was seen limping after he had exited the car safely. He was taken to the medical centre for an X-ray before being released with a right knee contusion.

Peter: Gasly quietly building confidence in and for Alpine. Hoping the team can continue to progress the development of the car.

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More from race winner Kimi Antonelli: "I am really happy to have won at a special track in front of these amazing fans.

"Driving and racing here is a unique experience and really looking forward to coming back here next year."

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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who finished in third: "It was a bit of a sweaty one. We got unlucky with the the safety car, from that moment onwards I knew I was on the back foot, especially to Kimi and Lewis. Then I was like, OK, let's keep pushing and let's try to keep the tyres and bring them to the end. But it wasn't as much of a disadvantage as I thought.

The tyres were actually pretty good, the few laps I did weren't so bad, it's just we lost a few positions."

"It was quite a fun race. Not quite enough to get Oscar but it was a cool race."

McLaren's Oscar Piastri, who finished P2 at Suzuka: "Turns out we're all right when we actually get to start!

"It would have been really interesting to see what would have happened without that [safety car]. I think I could keep George behind and just before the stops we were actually pulling away again. A shame we never got to see what would have happened, but for us at this point to be disappointed about finishing second is a pretty good place to be.

"Massive thanks to the team, we did a really good job of executing with what we had. We clearly still need to find a bit of performance but we took every opportunity we had today."

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Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli becomes the youngest championship leader after he won the race in Suzuka: "It feels pretty good, it is too early to think about the championship but we are on the good way.

"In the race, I had a terrible start, just need to check what happened but then I was lucky with the safety car to be in the lead and then the pace was just incredible. It was a really nice second stint. I felt very good with the car and very pleased with that.

On his race start: "Yeah, I mean good job I have a few weeks to practise clutch drops, just to get a better feel with it because it has been a weak point so far this year and I need to improve that because you can easily win or lose races with that.

On leading the race: "On the medium we were strong once we had free air and on the hard, the pace was incredible. I don't know what the outcome would have been without the safety car but it made my life a lot easier."

Engineer: "Bravo Charles."

Leclerc: "Let's go. I wish it was for a win but feels good. It was a tough race with a lucky safety car."

Engineer: "Yeah that was a great drive."

Champagne momentpublished at 08:07 BST 29 March

08:07 BST 29 March

The podium celebrations are here and Kimi Antonelli is drenched in champagne by Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.

The Mercedes team below are cheering on their driver, who is nine points clear of team-mate George Russell in the drivers' championship after wins in Shanghai and today at Suzuka.