McLaren was in for a treat in Suzuka as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri conquered a double podium for the first time together.
The Japanese Grand Prix was especially thrilling for the mid-field. This weekend McLaren joined Red Bull with the celebrations. Max Verstappen took the first step of the podium again after taking a break at Marina Bay but for the first time this year, the McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri got to share the podium together. Let’s see how the team managed to go from the bottom of the grid to the front field in one season and analyze the crucial parts of this race.
Free Practice
McLaren’s weekend got off to a great start in Free Practice. Both drivers showed promising lap times that were then converted into great qualifying results. An upgrade suited to Suzuka and careful tyre management were the key pieces to McLaren’s success. Despite the solid sessions at Marina Bay the team still had some questions to answer about the new package. For practice, the main task was to understand the tyres. Suzuka was expected to be a multi-stop race, but it wasn’t clear how many stops and on which tyres. From the early runs the track demonstrated to have a higher degradation than usual, so seeing how the teams dealt with this played a pivotal role in the end.
McLaren then decided to save the hard tyres for the race as opposed to other teams that instead saved the medium and soft compound. This, though, guaranteed a differentiation in the type of strategy used. Slowly but surely McLaren found the right pace in Free Practice while using mostly the soft tyres.
Qualifying
In qualifying both drivers made it into Q1 and Q2 on a single-timed lap leaving them with two new sets of tyres for Q3. There was a bit of drama in Q2 with Piastri when he left the garage for a second run but then pulled out of the fast lane and switched the engine off. It was then revealed that even though it may have looked like a mistake it was a decision made on the discovery that he was already safely in Q3.
Oscar Piastri qualified second, his first front-row start in F1, with Lando Norris just behind him in third place. While Max Verstappen demonstrated once again to be in a league of his own, McLaren was the only other leading team ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes.
The race: climbing to the podium
The race started off as particularly busy for the first half and then proceeded to be quite static for McLaren. Both drivers made a good start and while the Australian was covered by Verstappen, Lando Norris saw an opportunity to slip into second place. However, after trying to overtake the Dutchman, he settled for second place after Turn 1 with Oscar Piastri in third. An early Safety Car was then required after the early mayhem. After the SC went back in, it became a tyre management race. With a 3.6s gap to Verstappen, Norris was out of the undercut range so on lap 11 he was told to start managing his tyres.
Soon after a short-lived Virtual SC Norris was still stuck behind Verstappen. However, when the Dutchman entered the pits for medium tyres, the British briefly led the race. After pitting from the lead Lando came out in this place behind Oscar. Halfway through the race, Lando was closing up behind Oscar with DRS. The British was developing a better pace than his teammate and the team eventually decided to have the cars switch positions.
Lando then created a comfortable gap from Oscar. As Oscar was struggling on his tyres Leclerc was starting to close up behind him. Both drivers proceeded to make their second pitstop. Half a second separated Russell in third from Piastri behind him. With Leclerc closing behind the Piastri-Russell fight the McLaren driver was able to overtake the Mercedes. Once the overtaking was completed they were able to seal a fantastic second and a third place.
Oscar Piastri’s maiden podium
On Saturday it was Oscar Piastri’s performance that particularly caught the eye. Piastri marked his first appearance at Suzuka by out qualifying his teammate Lando Norris. With this, he became the fifth Australian driver to achieve the front-row feat. Going into Turn 1 he was forced into third place behind Verstappen and Norris who recovered some ground. After the first Safety Car, the Aussie concentrated on preserving his rubber and staying ahead of Charles Leclerc who was running up in fourth place behind him.
On lap 14 he made his pitstop just as the VSC was called giving him an advantage over his rivals. He was the first of the drivers who started with the medium compound to switch to hards. After Norris pitted Piastri was briefly in front of him. Halfway through the race, however, the team decided to make the cars switch positions. Despite this, the Australian was able to seal a fantastic third place.
“It feels pretty special, definitely. I’ll remember it for a long time. I can’t thank the team enough for this opportunity, it wasn’t my best race ever, but it was enough to get a trophy. Excited to try and get some more!”
– Oscar Piastri about his first F1 podium
With this, Piastri demonstrated once again his talent. At the start of the season, only a few people were certain that Piastri could do great things. McLaren didn’t start the season with the right foot. But the developments made to the car brought out Piastri’s real talent. After all, a great driver with an underdeveloped car can only go so far. The Australian can really be a star in the making but right now, whether he can become a future Grand Prix Winner and Formula 1 Champion can only be up to him.
Developments that make a difference
From getting eliminated in Q1 to a double podium finish, McLaren has worked a lot this season to get where they are now. In a matter of months, McLaren turned every result upside down. After the launching of the MCL60 team principal Andrea Stella was very open about the discontent of the team. Since then, they’ve come a long way.
McLaren’s first podium of the season came in Austria where they brought the first part of a major upgrade pack. As they brought more upgrades their performances got better. In particular, they focused on improving the little details after their major upgrade. With this, they demonstrated that they completely hit the mark. However, despite the solid sessions at Marina Bay the team still had some work to do. However, when McLaren first brought the upgrade package for both cars everyone certainly noticed.
In comparison to its rivals, the Papaya team has really shown to have made bigger improvements. Mercedes and Ferrari have seen improvement since the start of the season but not on the same level as McLaren. Despite being only fifth in the Constructors’ Championship the gap between them and The Cavallino Rampante and The Silver Arrows is quite substantial.
The Woking-based team seems to have found something that made them stand apart. Nothing quite like Red Bull of course, but in just a few races the slow-moving tractor that couldn’t even see the points became a podium-worthy car. With a combination of a great driver lineup, a team that works efficiently, and a team principal that has brought everything together. McLaren has demonstrated to have what it takes to fight for a Championship in the future.
