- Piastri secures third in Japan after topping FP2 with a record lap.
- Strong qualifying follows a difficult start with race-ending crashes and failures.
- Despite no car upgrades, Oscar aims to challenge Mercedes from row two.
Japanese GP quali ended on a strong note for Oscar Piastri as he secured the second row, alongside Charles Leclerc, with the Mercedes duo as usual, locking out the front row.
Ahead of the quali, he did well across all practice sessions, being 4th fastest in FP1 and FP3, while topping the FP2 results by setting a lap record of 1:30.133.
Last year, Oscar Piastri was competing for his first championship title alongside Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. However, a couple of setbacks in the second half of the season led to his teammate Norris taking the championship lead at the Mexican Grand Prix.
While he was still in the fight till the end, with Verstappen in the mix as a threat to both McLaren drivers, he eventually lost the title to Norris, coming third in the drivers’ standings by the end of the season.
Piastri secures second row at Japanese GP quali
Following the Japanese GP qualifying, Piastri reflected on his overall performance across the session and shared his thoughts on starting 3rd tomorrow. He said, “I think that was more or less all we had. The last lap of Q3 wasn’t great but the first lap was pretty solid so all in all, I’m pretty happy with that.”
However, he was “happy” to be a little near to Mercedes on the grid and hopes that they continue to maintain that position tomorrow.
Furthermore, he mentioned that they haven’t brought any major changes to the car this weekend, and it’s pretty much the same car they drove in the last two Grand Prixs. He believes that they are able to do a good job here, as this track suits their car a bit more.
” I think we’ve been able to exploit the power unit a bit better and just optimise things a bit more. I think we are clearly behind in terms of our package, but I didn’t think we got the most of it [in Australia or China],” he added.
While he thinks it’s nice that the team is making progress, he’s aware that there’s still more work to be done to close the gap.
A summary of Piastri’s 2026 season
Australian Grand Prix: He qualified 5th on the grid, a position ahead of his teammate, Norris. During the final race, as he was going through reconnaissance lap, he crashed at Turn 4 and hit the wall, resulting in massive damage to the car.
Chinese Sprint: He secured 5th position in the Sprint and ended up a place below in the race, securing only 3 points.
Chinese Grand Prix: He and Norris qualified 5th and 6th, respectively. However, both of their races ended in DNS due to separate electrical issues. During the final race, Piastri did make it to the grid before being pulled back into the garage.
