San Francisco Frontiers - King Kimi, Max misery, Bearman smash: Japan GP talking points

AFP Sport looks at three talking points from the third race weekend on the 2026 Formula One calendar:

- Mercedes protect teen hero -

Antonelli is in only his second season, but already Mercedes are playing down expectations of the 19-year-old -- now the youngest title race leader in Formula One history.

"We need to protect him now from people talking about world championships," said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff after the race.

Antonelli admitted he had a stroke of fortune with a safety car that enabled him to dive in for fresh tyres and emerge in the lead after his rivals had already pitted.

It was the second race in a row where a slow getaway saw him relegated from pole position and having to play catch-up.

"I had a terrible start. I need to check what happened. Then I was lucky with the safety car to be in the lead but then the pace was incredible," said Antonelli

"Luckily, I've got three weeks, so now I can practise some clutch drops just to get a better feel with it.

"It's been a weak point and I need to improve because you can easily win or lose races."

- Verstappen quit threat -

Red Bull's four-time world champion Verstappen openly questioned his future in Formula One after finishing eighth and lashing out again about the new cars and regulations.

"It's really anti-driving," he told the BBC.

"Then at one point, yeah, it's just not what I want to do."

Verstappen had won at Suzuka in each of the previous four years but was way off the pace and even waved goodbye to one car that overtook him, knowing that he did not have any capability to strike back.

The Dutchman said Formula One bosses "know what to do" to address his concerns and added: "You don't need to feel sorry for me, I'll be fine."

- Bearman sparks safety call -

Oliver Bearman escaped serious injury in a horror crash which prompted drivers to call for changes in the regulations.

The 20-year-old's Haas was closing rapidly at high speed on Franco Colapinto and smashed into the barriers after swerving to avoid the Argentine's Alpine.

Drivers and teams complained it had been an accident waiting to happen because of Formula One's new regulations that mean cars can be travelling at drastically different speeds on the track at the same time.

"These kind of closing speeds and these kind of accidents were always going to happen, and I'm not very happy with what we've had up until now," Grand Prix Drivers' Association chief Carlos Sainz told Sky Sports F1.

"Hopefully we come up with a better solution that doesn't create these massive closing speeds and a safer way of going racing," added the Williams driver.

Bearman said: "I think we've, as a group, warned the FIA what can happen, and this has been a really unfortunate result."

B.Ramirez--SFF