What a weekend for Piastri
Oscar Piastri has a special feeling with Suzuka and he demonstrated it again in the 2026 edition. The McLaren driver secured the third fastest time in qualifying and then at the start took advantage of the Mercedes’ uncertainties when the lights went out to take the lead.
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The unfortunate timing with the Safety Car allowed Andrea Kimi Antonelli to take the lead of the race without having to perform an on-track overtake on Piastri, who nevertheless defended second position until the checkered flag without any particular trouble.
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“Did we think we could stay ahead of the Ferraris in the race? Yes, we knew the gap in qualifying wasn’t truthful because clearly Leclerc and Hamilton had some issues with energy deployment, but we hoped we could be in the mix and that’s how it went – Piastri said in the press conference – what surprised me was seeing Russell stay behind me once George moved into second position. To be honest I thought it would take him half a lap to overtake me. So fighting with the Ferraris was something we hoped for, yes, but keeping a Mercedes behind was a much more pleasant surprise.”
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