Antonelli claimed pole position in Japan but messed up his start and dropped to sixth place. He climbed back to the top as McLaren and Ferrari pitted their drivers. The crucial moment came in the middle of the race when Safety Car was deployed following Oliver Bearman’s heavy crash. Antonelli pitted under Safety Car and rejoined the race at the front of the field. He didn’t have to worry about his teammate George Russell either as he pitted just before the Safety Car was called and later struggled with his Mercedes.

“In the race, had a terrible start, just need to check what happened but then I was lucky with the Safety Car to be in the lead but then the pace was just incredible and was a really nice second stint. I felt very good with the car and very pleased with that.” Said Antonelli right after the race, quoted by the official F1 website. He also admitted that he was obviously lucky with the Safety Car but he was also really strong on the medium tires once he got some clean air. But according to his words his pace was just incredible also on the hard tires in the second stint. “I don't know what would have happened, what the outcome would have been without the Safety Car but definitely made my life a lot easier,” he concluded.

Due to the cancelation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races in April, there is a month break until next race in Miami so teams can come up with significant upgrades. Antonelli stated that his focus will be on improving his starts as both Mercedes’ cars struggle with that since the season started. “Luckily I've got three weeks so now I can practice some clutch drops just to get a better feel with it because definitely it has been a weak point so far this year and we need to improve that because you can easily win or lose races with that.”

Despite Antonelli’s great start of the season he thinks that it is still early to think about the Championship: “It feels pretty good. Of course it's still early days to think about the Championship but we're in a good way.”