F1: new starts, mixed leaders
After three rounds under F1’s revised starting procedure, commentators say the new rules have created clear winners and losers — Mercedes has taken three wins while young drivers like Antonelli lead the standings amid struggles from Max Verstappen. (x.com) Race analysis over the weekend emphasized how the start rules reshaped early laps and championship momentum. (x.com)
Three races into Formula One’s 2026 season, Mercedes has won all three grands prix and 19-year-old Kimi Antonelli leads the standings on 72 points. (formula1.com, formula1.com) George Russell won the Australian Grand Prix on March 7 from Antonelli in a Mercedes one-two, then Antonelli won in China on March 15 ahead of Russell. Antonelli won again in Japan on March 29, where Oscar Piastri finished second and Charles Leclerc third. (formula1.com, formula1.com, formula1.com) The revised start procedure is part of the 2026 sporting regulations approved by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile on February 27, and it sits alongside updated rules for the grid procedure, formation lap and start procedure in Article B5. The first race weekend under the new rules was Melbourne on March 7. (fia.com, formula1.com) Early races have turned opening laps into the main plot. Formula One’s own race report from Australia said Russell lost the lead to Leclerc on the opening lap, China’s report said Antonelli was “only briefly headed at the start,” and Japan’s report said Piastri seized the lead into Turn 1 while both Mercedes slipped back. (formula1.com, formula1.com, formula1.com) That has scrambled the early championship order. Antonelli left Japan as the youngest driver ever to lead the standings, Russell sits second on 63 points, and Max Verstappen is outside the top five after a retirement in China and eighth place in Japan. (formula1.com, formula1.com, formula1.com) Formula One’s writers said on April 3 that Antonelli had been the standout driver of the first three rounds and that some rivals still had “work to do” before Miami. The same official standings page lists Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third on 49 points and Lewis Hamilton fourth on 41, with McLaren’s Lando Norris fifth on 25. (formula1.com, formula1.com) Japan also showed the other side of the new season: a poor launch did not end Antonelli’s day. Jolyon Palmer said in Formula One’s post-race analysis that Antonelli’s poor start forced him to recover with pace and strategy before he took his second win. (formula1.com, formula1.com) The schedule now pauses until Miami on May 1-3, with Mercedes holding the early edge and the first three rounds already showing that starts can reshuffle a race before the first pit stop. (formula1.com, fia.com)
