Japanese Grand Prix 2026: Race Times, F1 Fantasy Picks & Results

The Japanese Grand Prix is round 3 of the 2026 Formula 1 season at Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka, Japan, with the race on Sun 29 Mar. PPFL teams locked at the start of FP1 (Fri 27 Mar, 02:30 UK time).

Japanese Grand Prix 2026 session times

Session	UK	US Eastern	US Pacific	Australia (Sydney)	Local (Suzuka)
Practice 1	Fri 27 Mar, 02:30	Thu 26 Mar, 22:30	Thu 26 Mar, 19:30	Fri 27 Mar, 13:30	Fri 27 Mar, 11:30
Practice 2	Fri 27 Mar, 06:00	Fri 27 Mar, 02:00	Thu 26 Mar, 23:00	Fri 27 Mar, 17:00	Fri 27 Mar, 15:00
Practice 3	Sat 28 Mar, 02:30	Fri 27 Mar, 22:30	Fri 27 Mar, 19:30	Sat 28 Mar, 13:30	Sat 28 Mar, 11:30
Qualifying	Sat 28 Mar, 06:00	Sat 28 Mar, 02:00	Fri 27 Mar, 23:00	Sat 28 Mar, 17:00	Sat 28 Mar, 15:00
Race	Sun 29 Mar, 06:00	Sun 29 Mar, 01:00	Sat 28 Mar, 22:00	Sun 29 Mar, 16:00	Sun 29 Mar, 14:00

Times for UK, US Eastern, US Pacific, Sydney and the circuit's local time. See the full 2026 F1 race calendar.

What PPFL managers picked

For the Japanese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was the most-picked driver (34.2% of teams), George Russell the most popular captain (25 teams, 20.8%), Mercedes the favourite constructor (36.7%). 120 teams · 13 changed their team for this race.

Driver	Team	Picked by	Captain
Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	34.2%	14.2% (17)
George Russell	Mercedes	27.5%	20.8% (25)
Oscar Piastri	McLaren	17.5%	10% (12)
Lando Norris	McLaren	15.8%	14.2% (17)
Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	15%	2.5% (3)
Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	13.3%	9.2% (11)
Max Verstappen	Red Bull	12.5%	10.8% (13)
Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	11.7%	8.3% (10)
Oliver Bearman	Haas	10%	–
Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	7.5%	4.2% (5)

Constructor	Picked by
Mercedes	36.7%
Ferrari	22.5%
McLaren	11.7%
Aston Martin	6.7%
Alpine	5%

Most popular full team: George Russell + Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes (13 teams, 10.8%).

Biggest risers since last race (share of teams): Oscar Piastri 15% → 17.5%, Kimi Antonelli 10% → 11.7%, Oliver Bearman 8.3% → 10%.

Biggest fallers (share of teams): Max Verstappen 14.2% → 12.5%, Pierre Gasly 6.7% → 5%, Arvid Lindblad 4.2% → 3.3%.

How the most-picked drivers scored

Lewis Hamilton (owned by 34.2%): 12 pts
George Russell (owned by 27.5%): 19 pts
Oscar Piastri (owned by 17.5%): 30 pts
Lando Norris (owned by 15.8%): 15 pts
Isack Hadjar (owned by 15%): -3 pts

Best differential: Kimi Antonelli, owned by only 11.7% of teams, scored 44 PPFL points.

Japanese Grand Prix 2026 results and F1 fantasy points

Top PPFL team this race: Nando lorris with 125 points (tied with 1 other team).

For the Japanese Grand Prix, 100 PPFL teams averaged 79.6 points; the top-scoring driver was Kimi Antonelli with 44 PPFL points; the best value was Oscar Piastri, 1.5 points per $M at $20.0M; Liam Lawson gained the most places: 5, from P14 to P9.

The race data below comes from F1DB, the open-source Formula 1 database (release v2026.20.0), licensed under CC BY 4.0. PPFL points are our own.

Kimi Antonelli took pole in 1:28.778; Kimi Antonelli set the fastest lap, 1:32.432 on lap 49; Oscar Piastri was Driver of the Day with 27.36% of the fan vote.

Qualifying

Pos	Driver	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Kimi Antonelli	1:30.035	1:29.048	1:28.778
2	George Russell	1:29.967	1:29.686	1:29.076
3	Oscar Piastri	1:30.200	1:29.451	1:29.132
4	Charles Leclerc	1:29.915	1:29.303	1:29.405
5	Lando Norris	1:30.401	1:29.795	1:29.409
6	Lewis Hamilton	1:30.309	1:29.589	1:29.567
7	Pierre Gasly	1:30.584	1:29.874	1:29.691
8	Isack Hadjar	1:30.662	1:30.104	1:29.978
9	Gabriel Bortoleto	1:30.359	1:29.990	1:30.274
10	Arvid Lindblad	1:30.781	1:30.109	1:30.319
11	Max Verstappen	1:30.519	1:30.262
12	Esteban Ocon	1:30.915	1:30.309
13	Nico Hülkenberg	1:30.358	1:30.387
14	Liam Lawson	1:30.657	1:30.495
15	Franco Colapinto	1:30.931	1:30.627
16	Carlos Sainz Jr.	1:30.927	1:31.033
17	Alexander Albon	1:31.088
18	Oliver Bearman	1:31.090
19	Sergio Pérez	1:32.206
20	Valtteri Bottas	1:32.330
21	Fernando Alonso	1:32.646
22	Lance Stroll	1:32.920

Drivers' championship after round 3

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Kimi Antonelli	72
2	George Russell	63
3	Charles Leclerc	49
4	Lewis Hamilton	41
5	Lando Norris	25
6	Oscar Piastri	21
7	Oliver Bearman	17
8	Pierre Gasly	15
9	Max Verstappen	12
10	Liam Lawson	10

Constructors' championship after round 3

Pos	Constructor	Points
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

Full race result

Pos	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time / gap	F1 pts	PPFL pts	Notes
1	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	53	1:28:03.403	25	44	Fastest lap
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	53	+13.722	18	30	Driver of the Day
3	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	53	+15.270	15	26
4	George Russell	Mercedes	53	+15.754	12	19
5	Lando Norris	McLaren	53	+23.479	10	15
6	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	53	+25.037	8	12
7	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	53	+32.340	6	9
8	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	53	+32.677	4	11
9	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	53	+50.180	2	13
10	Esteban Ocon	Haas	53	+51.216	1	6
11	Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	53	+52.280		4
12	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	53	+56.154		-3
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	53	+59.078		-3
14	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	53	+59.848		-3
15	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Williams	53	+1:05.008		2
16	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	53	+1:05.773		-1
17	Sergio Pérez	Cadillac	53	+1:32.453		4
18	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	52	+1 lap		6
19	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	52	+1 lap		2
20	Alexander Albon	Williams	51	+2 laps		-3
DNF	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	30	Mechanical		-5
DNF	Oliver Bearman	Haas	20	Accident		-5

PPFL fantasy points by driver

Points before the captain bonus (a captain's race finish points are doubled).

Driver	Team	Grid	Finish	PPFL pts
Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	P1	1	44
Oscar Piastri	McLaren	P3	2	30
Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	P4	3	26
George Russell	Mercedes	P2	4	19
Lando Norris	McLaren	P5	5	15
Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	P14	9	13
Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	P6	6	12
Max Verstappen	Red Bull	P11	8	11
Pierre Gasly	Alpine	P7	7	9
Esteban Ocon	Haas	P12	10	6
Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	P21	18	6
Nico Hülkenberg	Audi	P13	11	4
Sergio Pérez	Cadillac	P19	17	4
Carlos Sainz Jr.	Williams	P16	15	2
Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	P20	19	2
Franco Colapinto	Alpine	P15	16	-1
Isack Hadjar	Red Bull	P8	12	-3
Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	P9	13	-3
Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	P10	14	-3
Alexander Albon	Williams	P17	20	-3
Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	P22	DNF	-5
Oliver Bearman	Haas	P18	DNF	-5

Price changes after the Japanese Grand Prix

PPFL prices move after every Grand Prix based on recent form. Changes since round 2 (19 unchanged):

Driver / constructor	Before	After	Change
Oscar Piastri	$20.0M	$29.0M	+$9.0M
Esteban Ocon	$26.0M	$32.0M	+$6.0M
Lewis Hamilton	$38.0M	$41.0M	+$3.0M
Pierre Gasly	$17.0M	$20.0M	+$3.0M
Charles Leclerc	$42.0M	$44.0M	+$2.0M
Gabriel Bortoleto	$9.0M	$10.0M	+$1.0M
Sergio Pérez	$8.0M	$9.0M	+$1.0M
Franco Colapinto	$10.0M	$9.5M	-$0.5M
Kimi Antonelli	$44.0M	$43.0M	-$1.0M
Max Verstappen	$43.0M	$42.0M	-$1.0M
Alexander Albon	$9.5M	$8.0M	-$1.5M
Lando Norris	$41.0M	$38.0M	-$3.0M
Arvid Lindblad	$32.0M	$26.0M	-$6.0M
Oliver Bearman	$29.0M	$17.0M	-$12.0M

See every price and the season trend on the F1 fantasy Price Form.

Read the Japanese Grand Prix 2026 race report: the story of the race and what it meant for PPFL teams.

Driver of the Day history at Suzuka

The fan-voted Driver of the Day at every race held here since the vote began.

2026: Oscar Piastri (27.4% of the vote)
2025: Yuki Tsunoda (23.7% of the vote)
2024: Charles Leclerc (23.8% of the vote)
2023: Oscar Piastri (28.2% of the vote)
2022: Sebastian Vettel (16.3% of the vote)
2019: Valtteri Bottas (20.8% of the vote)
2018: Daniel Ricciardo
2017: Max Verstappen
2016: Max Verstappen

Recent Japanese Grand Prix winners

Planning your team? Check driver and constructor values on the F1 fantasy Price Form and the Suzuka circuit guide.

← Round 2: Chinese Grand Prix · Round 4: Miami Grand Prix →

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