For the second time since Silverstone, McLaren is second and third on the grid. But will the team with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris make it into the top 3 in the race for the first time this year with both drivers at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka? Team boss Zak Brown is confident: “I think we can maintain this [und] get on the podium with both cars.”
In any case, McLaren laid the foundation for this: Piastri and Norris impressed in qualifying and were only beaten by Red Bull driver Max Verstappen, and clearly: Verstappen took 0.581 seconds off Piastri, Norris even 0.616 seconds.
The analysis by F1 Tempo makes it clear where the McLarens have problems: Compared to Verstappen, they lose in many fast areas in Suzuka and also have a lower top speed. Verstappen, for example, takes eleven km/h more into the first corner, but on the other hand also gains three tenths in the hairpin corner alone.
How Piastri got up to speed as a Suzuka newcomer
Despite the latest updates to the MCL60, McLaren has to admit that there are still deficits. Or as Piastri puts it: “Our problem areas remain unchanged. The new parts take us in the right direction, but we obviously still need a few steps to be the fastest.”
However, he himself did excellently in qualifying, considering that Piastri is competing in Suzuka for the first time. Brown can’t help but joke a little: “I don’t know if Oscar mentioned it, but I made him a sketch of the route on Thursday!”
Then the McLaren boss adds seriously at Sky: “Oscar drives great. That’s why I’ve tied him to the team for another three years. I think our driver duo is great.”
What Piastri did better than Norris
And yet there was a difference between the McLaren drivers over a fast lap that visibly irritated Norris: When asked in the press conference about his teammate’s slightly better lap, Norris briefly grimaced.
He then said he was “pretty happy” with his attempt and explained: “Suzuka is difficult and not a track where you can just nail everything down. Even the smallest mistake can cost a lot of time.”
So where did Norris waste time? F1 Tempo surprises with its analysis, because Norris was better almost everywhere and led in a direct comparison after half a lap by over 0.4 seconds compared to Piastri. Before the chicane he still had a tenth of a buffer, but when he accelerated out, this advantage disappeared: the last sector clearly went to Piastri.
How many reserves McLaren still had
Formula 1 newcomer Piastri, on the other hand, says that he did a “very solid lap”, but that he “could have hit the chicane better” – the very spot where he made up crucial time on Norris.
How many reserves were in play? “A little something,” says Piastri. On his second lap he improved by two tenths in the first sector, but didn’t make it through the lap. “That annoys me. But: I wouldn’t have found six tenths. So in the end it didn’t make any difference,” he explains. Verstappen was out of reach for McLaren.
Piastri would probably not have made up for the large deficit even with previous Suzuka experience. He says it took him “all of Friday and a lot of Saturday” to adjust to the track. “It takes a while to get the hang of it here. Even in qualifying I still tried to optimize a few things.”
Piastri as the fifth Australian in row one
But he quickly realized how difficult the Suzuka International Racing Course was to master: “On Friday I had quite a slide in the first Degner corner. After that, it took me a few laps to get back to the same speed. “
And now Piastri is only the fifth Australian to be on the front row of the Formula 1 grid. He says: “That’s not necessarily a record that I’m aiming for. But it’s nice that I achieved it so early in my Formula 1 career career. Not that many people get such an opportunity in their career. The fact that I’ve achieved it after just six months is a privilege.”
“And of course I would like to be the next Australian to break a few more records. So: a good start, but I would like to achieve even more.”
Mama Piastri is not there (yet)…
His mother would like to see that live. She is currently not on site in Japan, but team boss Brown promises on live television: “I would be happy to buy her a plane ticket! If you want to come here, Ms. Piastri, we would like to have you with us.” After all, it is a “really great year” for Piastri, who could finish a Grand Prix in the top three for the first time in Suzuka.
But Brown has even more in mind: “We’ll keep the pressure on now and see if we can still intercept Max!” And Piastri is also aggressive: “There is only one car that I could overtake, so I will try to do exactly that.”
Only Norris is a little less euphoric. Verstappen is the clear favorite, also in the race. “If he’s still in front in Turn 2, then there’s not much you can do.”
Norris: Do it like Prost and Senna once did!
On the other hand, “some of the best McLaren stories” have already been written in Suzuka. “That’s why we’re hoping for a good result to continue this tradition. But that will be difficult because Max and Red Bull are very good. We’ll try to make life difficult for them,” says Norris.
And then he jokes in the direction of Piastri: “I don’t know, Oscar, whether you want to hit Prost or Senna at the beginning of Turn 1, then of course you can do that! That would be nice for me.” Because if a McLaren took the Red Bull out of the race, Norris would have free rein. With which Norris is of course alluding to the famous Prost-Senna collisions in Japan in 1989 and 1990.
Is Aston Martin still up for grabs?
McLaren boss Brown is already thinking beyond Suzuka and the interim standings in the constructors’ championship, where McLaren is currently in P5 with 139 points. And Brown believes it is “definitely feasible” for his team to catch Aston Martin.
The current gap: 78 points. “It’s mathematically possible,” says Brown. “Really all we can do is keep pushing and try to be competitive every weekend.”
“You can Fernando [Alonso] of course never underestimate it. And we still need a few more races in which we can get a lot of points and Aston Martin might not score points, like in Singapore.”
But first of all, McLaren needs to use the latest updates on the racetrack. This means the team is “clearly fast,” says Piastri, and has “decent chances.” Postscript: “But then you have to implement it.” And that is exactly the mission for Piastri and Norris in the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.