In his first real race of the season, after two retirements in Australia and China, Oscar Piastri took second place in Japan.
Oscar Piastri‘s season began in Japan with a second-place finish that felt like a disappointment, given the early stages of the race. The Australian McLaren driver, fresh from two non-starts in Australia and China, led the Suzuka GP until the SC turned against him, allowing Andrea Kimi Antonelli to take the lead and hold it thanks to an endless series of fast laps.
McLaren, running the same car as in the Barcelona tests, demonstrated it has an excellent base, and with the updates and the Mercedes engine, the gap to the German manufacturer appears to be closed. Piastri himself commented:
Can he be beaten? Yes ; we already knew last year, or rather, we already knew last year, that even with the best car, you have to be able to drive it at an incredibly high level. I think we did a great job in that regard in Japan.
It’s interesting to see that when someone else has the fastest car, things aren’t so simple. The fact that I was able to keep George behind for so long was really encouraging . Non facciamoci illusioni, we did everything well this weekend, but we were beaten by 15 seconds, so we have a big gap to close. I’m confident we can do it, but yes, we still have work to do.”
Photo: McLaren F1 Team, F1.com
