The reigning world champions are finally back among the competitive cars, establishing themselves as the second force in qualifying behind the Mercedes team.
Here come the Papaya cars again
Smiles have finally returned to the McLaren garage this season. After the disastrous weekend in China, which ended in a double retirement for both cars before the race even started, the Papaya-colored cars were back in the spotlight on Saturday in Suzuka. It was impossible to challenge the Mercedes team, but Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris managed to position themselves between the Ferrari drivers: the Australian claimed third on the grid ahead of Charles Leclerc, while the Englishman secured fifth – only beaten by a few thousandths by Charles Leclerc – ahead of the second Ferrari driven by Lewis Hamilton.
Strong when it matters
“I think we can enjoy the day we had,” Oscar Piastri said, hoping to finally start his first race of the year tomorrow, having not yet completed a single lap so far this season. “For us, it was a really great performance. We did an excellent job all weekend, putting everything in place at the right moments. Yesterday in FP2 we looked strong; in FP3 maybe not so much, but in qualifying, when it counted, we were strong. We still need to find a bit more pace to catch the Mercedes cars, but this is a big step forward, and I’m happy with the lap I did with the equipment we had, so overall I’m quite satisfied.”
Norris stronger than the setbacks
Lando Norris also expressed satisfaction with his result, considering all the technical issues that slowed down the #1 car during the weekend. “I think a lot of things went better,” the world champion observed. “As a team, we’re managing to use the car more effectively. From my side, of course, I haven’t done enough laps to understand everything and feel fully comfortable, but I have the impression that we’re making progress as a team. We seem closer, we seem to be performing better; if I had done more laps this weekend, I would have felt a bit better today too. But it didn’t go badly, and we still have room to improve.”
In summary, McLaren has proven that they remain a formidable force when the pressure is at its highest. Based on the content of these post-qualifying reactions, the team has successfully diagnosed their early-season gremlins, setting the stage for a high-stakes tactical showdown with Ferrari under the Japanese sun.
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