'Pretty special': Piastri's third headlines weekend of firsts
Monday, 25 September 2023
Oscar Piastri's first F1® podium came on his 16th Grand Prix weekend, the Australian balancing happiness, some relief and a little frustration after his big breakthrough.
It was a weekend of firsts for Oscar Piastri at the Japanese Grand Prix, with the Australian taking his maiden Formula 1® podium from his maiden F1® front-row start – and earning 'Driver of the Day' honours from the sport's fans for the first time at the same time after finishing in third place.
Just 16 races into his rookie season, Suzuka 2023 will go down as the weekend Piastri came of age. The McLaren driver – armed with the upgrades to the MCL60 that teammate Lando Norris took to second place in Singapore a week earlier – was electrifying on his first visit to arguably the most daunting circuit on the calendar, trailing only runaway championship leader Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) on Saturday, and securing his first silverware from a Grand Prix 24 hours later.
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After becoming just the fifth Australian to start a Grand Prix on the front row of the grid after Sir Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo, Piastri made a start equal to Verstappen but was overtaken by Norris around the outside of Suzuka's fearsome Turn 1, slotting behind his teammate into third place as Verstappen held station.
Piastri jumped to second with a fortunately-timed pit stop just as a virtual safety car was called on lap 13 to clean up debris from a crash between Sergio Perez (Red Bull) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas), but Norris came back past under team instruction on lap 27, the Briton enjoying the extra grip of fresher tyres for the second stint of the race.Piastri fell to fifth on lap 35 when he pitted for the final time, and had to chase down and pass George Russell (Mercedes) to secure his first visit to a rostrum in a race (he finished second in the Sprint in Belgium last month), which he did with 11 laps left of the 53-lap race distance.
Piastri finished 36.494secs behind the rampaging Verstappen, and admitted to some frustration that Norris beat him by a tick over 17secs after starting one place ahead of his teammate.
"I would say not my best Sunday afternoon of the year, but for it to end with a trophy, I'm very happy with that," he said.
"I enjoyed the podium, I enjoyed the champagne, and we'll worry about how to go quicker in the next few days. It feels pretty special, definitely. I remember this for a very, very long time. There's not many people who get this opportunity in their whole life, and I've managed to have it in my first season."
"(Norris) was clearly a lot quicker than me today … the one frustration of today was that the race pace was lacking from my side. We were on very different-aged tyres … but I think the team executed it perfectly. The aim was to have papaya in second and third, and Lando was clearly deserving of second today – and myself third."
Piastri moved up to ninth in the drivers' championship as McLaren continued its strong form, drawing to within 49 points of Aston Martin for fourth in the constructors' standings after Fernando Alonso finished a distant eighth, and Lance Stoll retired while running outside of the points.
"At the start of the year, we were fighting for the back-end of points on our good weekends," Piastri reflected.
"Happy with the progress and the way we've been able to turn things around … as the car has improved, I feel like I've been able to improve with it to try to get the most out of it."
Piastri's podium was the icing on the cake of a massive week for the 22-year-old, who signed a two-year contract extension between Singapore and Japan, committing to McLaren until the end of the 2026 season. He garnered 28.2 per cent of the 'Driver of the Day' votes for his Suzuka showing, comfortably eclipsing Norris (15.8 per cent) and Verstappen (14.4 per cent).
"The move on George, I knew I had to get past or I was going to get stuck for a while," he said, admitting to some relief that he'd taken the first of what he hopes are more podiums before the end of 2023.
"That one was a bit close, but our pace after that was strong. In the second half of the race I got more into a groove, into a rhythm, and the pace was a bit better.
"I'm excited to try to get some more!"
Oscar's Japanese Grand Prix by the numbers
Qualified: 2nd
Race: 3rd
Fastest lap: 1min 36.328secs (5th), lap 38
Points this event: 15
Points this season: 57 (9th in world championship)
