‘Turns out we’re alright once we start’ – Piastri reacts to bittersweet podium in Japanese GP

Oscar Piastri was left with mixed emotions after securing his first podium finish of the season, questioning what could have been had he not lost out to winner Kimi Antonelli under Safety Car conditions in Japan.

The Australian was the last of the grid’s 22 drivers to start a Grand Prix in 2026, having crashed out on a reconnaissance lap in Australia and later suffering an electrical issue that ruled him out of the Chinese Grand Prix.

He subsequently made the most of the chance to have a clean weekend at the Suzuka Circuit and surged through from P3 to take the lead of the race on the opening lap. Despite significant pressure from Mercedes’ George Russell, Piastri managed to maintain the advantage until he boxed for fresh tyres.

Just a few laps later, the Safety Car was deployed to recover the damaged Haas of Ollie Bearman, gifting Antonelli a quicker pit stop after he had improved back up the order. Piastri was unable to challenge for the lead again and ultimately settled for P2, which was nevertheless an achievement following his dire first two rounds.

“Turns out we're alright once we start,” he summarised. “It would have been really interesting to see what would have happened without the Safety Car.

“I could keep George behind and just before the stops we were actually pulling away a little bit again. A shame that we never got to see what would have happened but I think for us at this point to be disappointed about finishing second is a pretty good place to be.”

His best chance to reclaim first place on track came at the restart, but the superior pace of the Mercedes saw him slowly fall further behind Antonelli, who eventually took the chequered flag 13.722s ahead of Piastri.

However, his impressive getaway at lights out and battle with Russell signified a major improvement for the Woking outfit and resulted in a solid haul of points, with Piastri's sixth place in the China Sprint his only other score.

Reflecting on the result, he said: “Massive thanks to the team, I think we did a pretty good job of executing with what we had.

“Clearly we still need to find a bit of performance but we took every opportunity we had today.”