Oscar Piastri secured third position on the starting grid for the Formula 1 Japanese GP, and highlighted McLaren’s evolution throughout the weekend. The Australian celebrated being among the top three and emphasized the closing gap to the Mercedes lead.
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This result reinforces the positive momentum of the British team, which showed consistent performance in all sessions. For Piastri, the execution of the work over the days was decisive in achieving good performance in the qualifying session: “It was a good qualifying session today, it was good to be in the top three and closer to Mercedes, so we can be satisfied with this afternoon’s result,” the driver stated.
The Australian also highlighted the consistency shown by the team: “I think throughout the weekend we have been reasonably good, and the team executed every session efficiently, getting the decisions right each day, which is very positive.”
Despite the good performance, Piastri recognized that there is still a gap to Mercedes: “Clearly we still don’t have the pace or the grip to match Mercedes, but we are getting closer, and that is the most important thing for our performance on track,” he said.
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Even with this gap, the driver highlighted important positive points in the qualifying session: “There are many positives today, and it was good to manage to stay ahead of Ferrari as well,” he stated, emphasizing the car’s competitiveness.
Thinking about the race, the Australian stated that work will continue before the start: “We will continue working hard to achieve important gains overnight. We will work on energy management and extracting as much performance as possible in preparation for tomorrow’s race,” he added.
With this, McLaren arrives at the race with positive expectations, betting on the gradual evolution of the car and the consistency shown throughout the weekend to try to fight for a strong result in the Japanese GP.
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