Suzuka International Racing Course, Sunday, 29 March
Find out what happened during the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka International Racing Course, and get the thoughts of McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and Team Principal Andrea Stella.
A first podium of the season for the McLaren Mastercard F1 Team, after a hard-fought race with action from the first lap until the last. Oscar finished P2 and Lando P5, leaving the team pleasantly surprised that we are departing Suzuka a little unlucky not to have more, the Japanese Grand Prix turning on a Safety Car period that cost Oscar the lead of the race.
The thinking in the team at the start of Sunday was that the drivers had done a good job in Qualifying, and were conceivably starting the Grand Prix ahead of cars with better race pace. Our competitive position improved at the start, with both drivers hooking up their launch. Lando moved up from P5 on the grid to P3 into the second corner, but Oscar translated P3 into the lead before arriving at Turn 1.
Oscar survived sustained pressure from George Russell in the early exchanges, at one stage losing and regaining the lead as the drivers experimented with their energy deployment options between the last chicane and the first corner of the circuit.
Once the race settled down, Oscar was able to eke out a small advantage and was reasonably optimistic about being able to defend his position. He pitted on Lap 18 to protect his advantage, swapping from the Medium to the Hard tyres. Russell stayed out three laps longer before following suit, coming out behind. It would have been interesting to see how that battle developed, but we never got the chance, as a heavy crash for Ollie Bearman led to a long deployment of the Safety Car. This allowed Kimi Antonelli to make a cheaper stop from the lead, and retain his position. Once the race restarted, Antonelli pulled way for a comfortable victory, while Oscar drove a clever race to maintain P2, keeping the opposition – first Hamilton then Leclerc – behind him.
Lando’s afternoon was more eventful. After an excellent start, he was passed by the Mercedes pair to drop back to his starting position, embroiled in a battle with Charles Leclerc, who likewise fell behind the faster Antonelli. Lando believed he had the pace, should he have clean air, and pitted on Lap 16, attempting the undercut. It didn’t work out, as Leclerc responded and held the position. Lando then lost a position to Lewis Hamilton when the Safety Car appeared. The second half of his race was about staying in touch with the leading group before attacking towards the end of the race.
Once Lando had closed the gap to Hamilton, an intense battle followed, with the position changing hands several times. Lando was finally able to pass and pull away at the third time of asking, two laps from home.
The positives today are many: executing and completing a race distance with both cars for the first time was good, and a first podium of the season is very welcome, but top of the list, going into the month-long hiatus, is the development of our competitive position. We’re closer to the front and leave Suzuka with the awareness that we have made a step forward from where we were at the beginning of March, which is an important boost of confidence before the long April break. Our focus now turns to a lot of hard work at the McLaren Technology Centre and McLaren Racing Composites across April, which we hope will bring more gains for the Miami Grand Prix.
AloJapan.com