After the Suzuka weekend, with Max Verstappen’s victory, the two McLaren drivers reflect on their race results, praising the Dutchman’s masterpiece and already looking ahead to Bahrain.
33: the points that the British team brings back to Woking after finishing second and third in the Japanese Grand Prix, with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri. 33, the race number chosen by Max Verstappen before winning his first world title, the very same driver who spoiled McLaren’s plans, a team that dominated the free practice sessions on the Japanese circuit but was outsmarted in qualifying and then in the race by the number one.
After the Suzuka race, the number 4 driver of Andrea Stella’s team remains in the lead in the championship, with just a single point ahead of Red Bull’s Dutch driver; Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, overtakes George Russell to take third place with a total of 49 points, 14 points behind his teammate. While the Drivers’ Championship looks very tight, the Constructors’ Championship is a different story, with the Woking-based team leading with 111 points, just behind Mercedes and Red Bull.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s words after the Japanese GP
Interviewed after the race in Japan, Lando Norris praised the masterpiece that was Max Verstappen’s performance, acknowledging his mistake in qualifying, one of the key moments during the Suzuka weekend, where the track is very technical: “I think I lost it yesterday. Max did a good race today, no mistakes. The pace was too similar to today for us to do anything more. It was a long race, a lot of pressure, a non-stop race from start to finish, so it was tough. Today, it just wasn’t enough, there was nothing special we could do to pass Max. They were fast and error-free, as I said, so they deserved it “.
Regarding the contact with Max Verstappen after the pit stop, the 25-year-old Brit considered the incident as a racing incident, adding: “Max is the last person I expect to give me space, in a good sense and competitively, so nothing more than that.”
“Obviously, we didn’t get the positions we wanted, and we fight for victory every weekend, but they deserved it. Both Red Bull and Max deserved this weekend. They’re fast, they’re recovering. They’ve obviously made improvements, and as a team, we didn’t have enough this weekend, so we’ll need to work harder for the next one, ” concluded Norris.
From third place, Oscar Piastri was not satisfied with his result in Japan and is already looking ahead to the next race in Bahrain. The Australian had repeatedly asked the team to intervene on a position swap to try to secure his second win of the season and beat Verstappen; however, the two McLaren drivers crossed the finish line in the same positions they started in.
“Today, I felt really fast, I just didn’t have the position on track to make the most of it, unfortunately. That’s how qualifying affects the race result. But there are definitely a lot of positive things to take away. This track hasn’t been particularly kind to me in recent years during the races, but today I felt like the pace was really strong, so I’ll take that forward. The result wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but there’s still a lot of satisfaction to take from this day. And yes, I go to Bahrain with confidence ,” said the number 81 driver.
Photo: McLaren F1 Team.
