McLaren’s Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri said it was a “surprise” to see the wide range of strategic options used inside the top 10 during Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The Australian was surprised that Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc committed to a one-stop, suggesting that his MCL38 couldn’t afford to replicate that amid high degradation.
Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon’s crash on the first lap triggered a red flag that provided teams with the chance to change their starting rubber for the standing restart.
While McLaren remained on the Mediums, Mercedes elected to switch to the Hard compound to attempt a one-stop, but poor pace in the opening stint foiled that plan.
“I think some strategies were a bit of a surprise,” Piastri admitted.
“I think, obviously for Mercedes, I assume their plan was to try a hard-hard one-stop effectively and then converted back to a medium and also impressive for Leclerc to pull off a one-stop.
“So definitely some things for us to try and learn.
“I don’t think we could have done a one-stop for us, but, definitely some interesting things to learn. I think just struggled a little bit with pace today.”
Amid a rise in track temperature compared to the rest of the weekend, degradation proved to be a pivotal factor that influenced the strategies each team depended on.
Despite his struggles to match his more experienced team-mate at Suzuka, Piastri doesn’t believe that McLaren was one of the teams that suffered most with the tyres.
“I mean, it’s obviously going to be worse for everyone. Whether it impacted us more than others, hard to know,” Piastri commented.
“But yeah, I think it was just kind of unclear what everyone’s pace was like before the race because of the lack of long runs.
“So, yeah, obviously a bit disappointing to not be a bit closer to Ferrari and Red Bull, but we’ll see what we can do for next time.”
Asked about this fight with Alonso, Piastri says he “could tell” that Alonso was trying to keep him right in the back.
“Yeah I could tell Fernando was trying to keep me there by the way he was using his energy, I think with how difficult it is to follow in these cars it is a good strategy to try and stop a quicker car coming through, so a few tough moments with George [Russell], but in the end I made a mistake and he got past,” he explained.
“Disappointing to let that one slip right at the end, but yeah, struggled a bit in turbulent air.”
The McLaren driver was also questioned on the incident in the latter stages that saw him run across the chicane and retain position when Russell dived up his inside.
“No, I think, probably a bit of a racing incident the first time, he finished in front of me anyway, I think that was fine,” Piastri concluded.
