McLaren driver Oscar Piastri finished where he started in 3rd at the 2025 F1 Japanese GP on Sunday. Ultimately proving overtaking difficult on-track, the birthday celebrant rigidly shadowed teammate Lando Norris and race winner Max Verstappen over the 53-lap contest.
Not the result Piastri wanted at the F1 Japanese GP
Reflecting on the race, Piastri said that Saturday dictated a lot of the race, with the turbulent air proving difficult to overtake. However, with what was possible within the race, the Australian driver said he was able to achieve his maximum result.
“Yeah. 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. 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.”
Tyre advantage ‘difficult’ to attain
The Australian emphasized that strategic decisions on tyres have always depended on the track. With a low-deg race like today at Suzuka, it becomes difficult to get a tyre advantage and to have a strategy variation.
He added that he believed qualifying has always been important, particularly at a venue like Suzuka with one DRS zone.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily more important. I think it’s always been important. 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.”
A sensible strategy amidst uncertainty
Asked about his strategy, he believed that pitting the at the same time as Russell and Leclerc behind was sensible. He explained that McLaren was unsure how much power the undercut had following the resurfacing.
“I mean, I think on the pit stop timing, Russell had pitted I think the lap before and Leclerc wasn’t that far behind and we didn’t really know what the undercut power was going to be like. And you know, we’d gone a fair way into the race on the Mediums anyway.
“So I think from my side there wasn’t anything that was obviously wrong with what we did.
“And then at the end, yeah, I said what I felt. Clearly the team were happy with the way things were. I mean, if I was in Lando’s position, I would also be pretty happy with the way things were. So that’s fine. Just said what I felt in the car and yeah, that’s how we want to go racing.”
Overtaking Norris proved to be too ‘difficult’ for Piastri at F1 Japanese GP
Asked if there was a possibility to overtake his teammate for track position, Piastri said that there was a slim chance. He then added that the dirty air made it difficult to stay within DRS range, further adding to the difficulty of an overtake.
“I mean, it was too difficult. I think I needed the straight to be about another 100 metres longer and then maybe I could’ve had a small chance. But I got close a couple of times, but never close enough to do anything realistically.
“So yeah, I feel like I had strong pace, but just not quite enough to be able to do anything. And yeah, with the dirty air, once you get so close, it’s very difficult to stay so close. So yeah, I think the chance of anything happening realistically was pretty slim.”
