Oscar Piastri didn’t exactly ease into his 2026 campaign. Two pre-race non-starts to open the year will do that to anyone’s rhythm, never mind a driver expected to be one of McLaren’s points pillars as the reigning back-to-back Constructors’ champions try to keep themselves in the title conversation.
First came Melbourne, where Piastri’s home race unravelled before it even began with a reconnaissance-lap crash. Then China, where an electrical issue struck early enough to wipe out both him and Lando Norris before the Grand Prix started. Suzuka, therefore, carried a very simple objective: finally get a proper race distance in, bank something tangible, and start building momentum.
He did rather more than that.
Piastri was sharp off the line in Japan, snatching the lead at the start and looking for long stretches like a driver determined to make up for lost time. McLaren’s pace was good enough for him to control the first half of the race from the front — a reminder that while the MCL40 hasn’t always looked like the class of the field so far, it’s not been a lost cause either. The weekend also offered something else McLaren will value just as much: evidence that when the car is in the window, Piastri is ready to lean on it.
Then Formula 1 did what it always does and introduced a variable.
An awkwardly timed Safety Car flipped the complexion of the race, handing Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli the kind of cheap pit stop that engineers dream about and rivals curse. With the reduced time loss, Antonelli was able to stop and still keep track position when the race restarted, and that was effectively that for Piastri’s win chances.
Second place was still a statement after the opening two rounds, even if it came with a slightly bruised “what if?” attached. Piastri’s post-race radio message cut through the frustration with a grin: “Turns out when we start these things, we’re pretty good.”
It was funny because it was true — and because it landed with the sort of gallows humour drivers tend to use when they know the bigger picture matters more than the sting of a missed opportunity.
What Suzuka really did was reset the narrative around McLaren’s start to the season. Piastri admitted it hasn’t played out quite as hoped, but his confidence in the team’s capacity to rebound didn’t sound like the hollow optimism you sometimes get in April. It sounded like someone who’s seen enough evidence internally to believe the upward curve is real.
“We’d be lying if we said we hadn’t hoped to be closer to the front,” Piastri said, but he also pointed to Japan as proof McLaren can push beyond its “initial expectations” — and, crucially, that without the Safety Car he felt the win was genuinely on.
That’s the part McLaren will cling to: not the bad luck, but the underlying performance that put them in a position where bad luck could matter. The gap to the winner at the flag might suggest a comfortable Mercedes day on paper — Piastri finished 15 seconds behind Antonelli — yet the race had felt more finely balanced before the Safety Car did its damage.
Piastri’s framing is telling. He isn’t pretending McLaren is already where it needs to be; he’s pointing out where the leverage is. “Closing the gap to Mercedes and out-developing the field is something that’s within our control,” he said, adding that the team has a track record of turning things around and that it’s “starting in a stronger position” than it did in similar situations in 2024.
There’s also a quiet bit of pressure embedded in those comments. When you’re the team that set the benchmark across the last two Constructors’ Championships, you don’t get to define “progress” in isolation. You define it relative to your rivals — and Piastri name-checked two of them directly, noting McLaren expected Mercedes and Ferrari to be strong this year.
Japan, in his mind, was a positive step. Not the destination, but an honest marker that the car can fight at the front on merit when the weekend comes together — and that the early-season pain has at least been converted into something useful: a baseline, a result, and a platform for development.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do if we want to be at the front,” he said, “but I know this team has the ability to develop across the year.”
After a fortnight where Piastri barely got to race at all, Suzuka delivered a clearer picture. McLaren isn’t in cruise control. It’s in pursuit. But if the first proper outing of Piastri’s season is any guide, he and the team have already found a way to make the chase feel a lot less like damage limitation — and a lot more like a campaign that’s about to bite back.
