What a weekend for Piastri
Oscar Piastri he has a special feeling with Suzuka and he also demonstrated it in the 2026 edition. The McLaren driver achieved the third fastest time in qualifying and then at the start he took advantage of the Mercedes’ uncertainties when the traffic lights went out to take command of operations.
The Unlucky timing with the Safety Car it allowed Andrea Kimi Antonelli to take the lead without having to overtake Piastri on the track, who nevertheless defended second position until the checkered flag without any particular problems.
“Did we think we could stay ahead of the Ferraris in the race? Yes, we knew that the gap in qualifying wasn’t true because clearly Leclerc and Hamilton had had problems in terms of energy use, but we hoped we could make it and so it was – said Piastri in the press conference – what surprised me was seeing Russell stay behind me once George moved up to second. To tell the truth I thought it would take him half a lap to overtake me. So fighting with the Ferraris was something we were hoping for, yes, but keeping a Mercedes behind was a much more pleasant surprise.”
