Kimi Antonelli broke two records held by Max Verstappen at the Japanese Grand Prix, and he has his sights firmly set on the podium for his next target.

The young Italian became the new youngest race leader in Formula 1 history when he held P1 for multiple laps in the middle of the race, and on fresher rubber managed to set the fastest lap of the race – becoming the youngest driver ever to post the fastest lap in a Grand Prix.

Kimi Antonelli: ‘Now it’s a podium’ after two Japanese GP records

The Mercedes driver broke the record for the youngest ever race leader, held by Max Verstappen, by four days as he took charge of the field before his pit stop at Suzuka.

While that race was his final opportunity to become the youngest race winner in the history of the sport, the 18-year-old is looking upwards for his next milestone, just three races into his Formula 1 career.

Emerging from the pit lane nine seconds behind team-mate George Russell in his final stint, he closed that gap to 1.3 seconds come the chequered flag on fresher rubber, having undertaken a 32-lap stint on medium tyres to start the race.

In a video posted on Mercedes’ social media channels, Antonelli was seen riding a scooter, being congratulated on his P6 finish by Lewis Hamilton, and telling Mercedes colleagues: “I’m so happy I got fastest lap.”

More of the key statistics following the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka

👉 2025 Japanese Grand Prix – Official F1 results (Suzuka)

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

When told he was the youngest driver ever to achieve that accolade, as well as becoming the youngest driver ever to lead a Grand Prix, he replied: “Oh wow, now it’s a podium next!”

Discussing his afternoon following the chequered flag, he feels that a “big click” has been made between himself and the W16, which he hopes to explore further moving forwards.

“Much, much happier with today, much better than China,” he said.

“I was really happy about the pace. Finally, we showed some good pace consistency, especially on the hard [tyre]. On the medium, the first 15 laps were a little bit of struggle, but then once I got in free air, the pace improved quite a lot, and then once I went to the hard, [there] was another step forward – so, really happy with that.

“Qualifying was a big click, because definitely I was able in qualifying to feel more the car and push it more, and today was another step forward.

“I’m really looking forward to exploring even more in the next few weekends, because now I have the feeling that I can, again, play with the car, something that I couldn’t really do in the previous two weekends, just because I was definitely a bit more tense while driving.

“While now, of course, I’m getting more experience with the tyres and the car itself, so I’m able to feel it more as well. So, definitely a good boost of confidence ahead of next weekend.”

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