Oscar Piastri: It was a special week

After the race in Suzuka, Oscar Piastri summarized his most successful weekend in Formula 1 to date…

Question: Oscar, what a weekend! You extended your contract with McLaren, started from the front row for the first time, stood on the podium for the first time in Formula 1…
Oscar Piastri: Yes, this is a special week. Contract extension application, front row qualification, then podium. Awesome! I still have a lot to learn, a lot to improve, but for now I’m enjoying the moment.

Q: How nice is it to be on the front row and take your first podium here at the legendary Suzuka circuit?
Oscar Piastri: The first podium will always be special, no matter what circuit. I could have done better in the race, from this point of view I still have some work to do. But the first podium is nice.

At certain times I wasn’t fast enough. Racing on tracks with high tire wear is the main thing I need to work on. This was not the case in the youth series.

The only way to learn is to participate in such races. If I had the opportunity to run this race again, there are a few things I would do differently. But this is part of the learning process. It’s nice to know that we can finish on the podium, but I feel like there’s still a long way to go.

Q: What would you have done differently in the beginning? What happened there?
Oscar Piastri: Looking back, I understand that the situation was the same as with Senna and Prost. I had a good start, but I was a bit overzealous with the throttle in the second phase of the start. I saw Lando approaching Max on the outside radius and decided to stay third – this was the safest option.

Q: To continue with the topic, you said that you want to improve a lot. What are we talking about?
Oscar Piastri: At certain points in the race I was unable to accurately monitor tire wear and speed.

In the first stint it seemed like everyone was driving too slowly, and when I tried to speed up the tires wouldn’t let me go any faster. There’s a lot to work on here.

As I said, only on a real track can you learn, understand what is good and what is bad. The high lap speed has improved in recent Grands Prix, but the race pace needs work.