Oscar Piastri is “confident” McLaren can catch Mercedes after securing his first podium of the season at Formula 1‘s Japanese Grand Prix.
The Australian finally got his 2026 campaign underway, at the Suzuka International Circuit, after registering back-to-back DNSs at the opening two rounds of the season – and what a start it was.
The McLaren driver leaped into the lead of the race off the line, and built a commanding albeit small lead over the chasing pack in the laps after.
What looked like a race win, however, quickly took a downward turn once the Safety Car was called into action after Oliver Bearman’s massive 50G shunt.
Both Piastri and Mercedes’ George Russell had already pitted by that time. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, however, had not and gained a cheap pit stop to propel the pole-sitter back into the race lead.
Piastri finally took the chequered flag in second but did contemplate if the race win was slated for his MCL40 instead.
“I would have loved to have seen how it would have panned out [without the Safety Car],” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think you know I need to look back and see how you know whether Kimi was quicker than George or similar pace, I think if he was the same pace as George then it would have been a pretty stressful afternoon.
“I probably would have had both of them right on my gearbox but yeah I mean I think once Kimi had clean air clearly he was a lot faster than me so I’m not sure we would have won the race but I certainly would have loved to have found out.”
Mercedes are ‘beatable’ says Oscar Piastri after F1 Japanese GP
The W17 has arguably been the benchmark for the field so far. That said, the Japanese GP did end a particular streak for the Silver Arrows.
Russell and Antonelli had scored consecutive one-twos in Australia and China until Piastri ended that run on Sunday.
The McLaren driver is “confident” his team can out-develop its rivals throughout 2026 and catch up to the German marque on track.
“Yes,” Piastri replied when asked if he feels Mercedes were beatable this year.
“I think you know we knew from last year or we know from last year that even when you have the best car you still need to operate it at you know an incredibly high level.
“I think today on our side we did a really good job of that but I think it’s yeah it’s interesting to see you know when someone else has the fastest car that it’s not that straightforward.
“I think you know the fact that I could keep George behind for so long was really encouraging but you know we’re under no illusion we did everything right this weekend and we still got beaten by 15 seconds.
“So, we’ve got a pretty big gap to fill, I’m confident that we can get there but yeah we’ve still got some work to do.”
The Woking-based team now has a sum total of five weeks of debriefing and plotting to do before the Miami GP and attempt to subvert Mercedes’ dominance this season.
Discussion about this post