Oscar Piastri noted that track position proved costly in McLaren’s failed pursuit of Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix victor Max Verstappen.
Either McLaren looked odds-on for pole position, and Piastri did hold the provisional fastest time before being bested by Verstappen and team-mate Lando Norris.
Verstappen kept the two McLarens at bay throughout the race, although they crept up towards the Dutchman in the closing laps.
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But Norris failed to get into the Red Bull’s DRS, and Piastri, within a second of his team-mate, asked the question of swapping.
“If Lando is still saving, I think he should go soon,” Piastri said over the team radio.
“I have the pace to get Max.”
The McLarens held station, and Norris and Piastri took second and third, respectively, with the Aussie ultimately lamenting his failure to clinch a better qualifying result at Suzuka.
“I think the pace today was really, really good,” he told James Hinchcliffe in parc ferme.
“I obviously got close a few times and tried to mount a challenge, but the track position around here is just so important.
“Yesterday was the day where you effectively won the race, and I didn’t do a good enough job.
“I’ll take the podium, there’s still a lot of positives to take out this weekend, I think the pace was mega.
“Next time, I just need to make sure I’m in a better position to use it.”
‘I could go and get Max’ – Piastri
In the end, Piastri revealed “there wasn’t much” of a conversation regarding swapping the two McLarens late on.
“For me, I felt like I had really strong pace and felt like if I had the track position, I could go and get Max,” Piastri explained.
“But that’s what happens when you qualify behind, unfortunately.
“I at least asked the question, and I think that was a fair response.”
In the end, having qualified on the front row, Norris remained Verstappen’s closest challenger, and he had a similar opinion on matters.
“I guess I just lost out yesterday,” Norris said, echoing his team-mate’s thoughts.
“Max drove a good race today, no mistakes.
“The pace was too similar today to do anything more.”
However, Norris added that “I think it’s still been a very good weekend. We obviously didn’t get the positions that we wanted and we are fighting for a win every weekend, but they deserved it.
“Both Red Bull and Max deserved it this weekend, and they’re quick, they’ve been catching up, they’ve obviously made some improvements, and as a team we didn’t have enough this weekend, so we’ll have to work harder for the next one,” he concluded.
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