Piastri settles for third in steady Suzuka showing

Oscar Piastri may have celebrated his 24th birthday on the podium, but third place at Suzuka felt more like damage limitation than triumph after a Japanese Grand Prix shaped by missed opportunity on Saturday.

The Australian came into Sunday with higher expectations than a third-place finish, but as the 53 laps played out, he recognised that—given the limitations of his Qualifying result—he had extracted all he could from his Japanese Grand Prix.

When the five lights went out at Suzuka, it was a clean start for the entire field, with the majority of drivers holding position including the top three.

Starting from third, Piastri slotted in behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on the opening lap, never quite close enough to challenge his teammate before the trio settled into a temporary DRS train.

Verstappen soon broke free from the McLaren duo, snuffing out any early hopes of a genuine fight for victory before it had even begun.

“I mean, I think obviously the result is not exactly what I wanted, but I think in terms of the pace and the way I achieved the result is what I wanted,” Piastri said.

“So yeah, I think yesterday was the day that kind of dictated your weekend a lot and I didn’t get the most out of the car. 

“So that unfortunately kind of dictated a lot of what I could do today, and that’s led to the result I’ve got.”

Reacting to George Russell’s early pitstop, McLaren called Piastri into the pitlane for his first and only tyre change on Lap 20, needing to cover off the potential threat of a Mercedes undercut given the unknown risk.

He rejoined the race in P9, just metres ahead of Fernando Alonso as he worked his way back into a steady rhythm, eventually finding himself circulating as the fastest driver on track with the aid of the hard compound.

“I don’t know if [Qualifying] necessarily more important [this year] — I think it’s always been important,” Piastri said. 

“I think in a race like we had today where there’s very little deg, it’s a pretty easy one-stop, and you’re pushing flat out for a lot of it, then yeah, it becomes very difficult to have an advantage with tyres. 

“And I think in Suzuka in the past that is how you’ve generally tried to overtake people — this weekend, that wasn’t the case so I think it depends on the track. 

“Bahrain, for example, might not quite be the same, but I mean, qualifying has always been important. 

“It’s not rocket science to work out that if you start on pole, it makes your life a lot easier, so yeah, I think that’s the main opportunity from this weekend.”

With 15 laps remaining, the Australian had clawed his way back to the rear of Lando Norris’ McLaren, breaking into his DRS range as he forged an argument to be let by.  

Urging Norris to quit his tyre-saving antics or for McLaren to enact team orders, the 24-year-old claimed he had the pace to catch Verstappen, but the seven-tenth margin between the papaya cars wasn’t enough to convince the pit wall, seeing the teammates instead forced to fight for second place as they circulated 1.2 seconds behind the leader.

Not deterred, Piastri shaved a further three-tenths off the interval to Norris, arriving on the main straight with the DRS advantage in what was his best opportunity to pass Norris into the first corner, however, the Australian couldn’t cement the move and was forced to back off over the course of the final few laps.

“I think our car is in a very strong place at the moment,” Piastri said. 

“It’s still got some things that we want to try and improve, but I obviously know that Lando’s going to be strong opposition given we’re in the same car, and I know Max is going to be strong opposition, you know, given everything he’s achieved in his career. 

“So I think as Lando said, it doesn’t take much of a mistake from us—or certainly from myself—to let the others in. And I think that’s what we saw yesterday. 

“And as Lando said, Mercedes looked very threatening at times this weekend, and I think Ferrari – I think people forget that Charles’s race in China he did with, essentially, half a front wing. 

“So I think if anyone else had tried to do the race he did in China, they would have had to box pretty quickly. 

“So I think we have a small advantage, but I think this weekend has really shown that any small mistake and there’s a lot of competition there to capitalise.”

On his 24th birthday, Piastri took the chequered flag in third place, a result that boosted the Australian into P3 in the WDC standings.

Heading straight to Sakhir for the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend, Lando Norris sits in the lead of the championship on 62 points, just one point ahead of Verstappen, while Piastri trails on 49 points ahead of Round 4.

The first hour of track action will kick off on Friday, April 11, with FP1 at the Bahrain International Circuit taking place at 21:30 AEDT.

Image: McLaren

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