Oscar Piastri hints at missed chance in Japan: “I would have liked a team order”. Suzuka: Oscar Piastri would have liked the team to let him easily overtake Lando Norris.

Japanese GP, Oscar Piastri settles for the podium
First came the temporary freeze on positions in Australia, then the lack of a team order in Japan. For Oscar Piastri, communication with the team hasn’t been on his side at the start of the season. In Suzuka, the Australian showed he had the pace to win, shadowing Lando Norris throughout the GP as the Briton remained 1.5 seconds behind Max Verstappen and never attempted an attack on the world champion.

Two-thirds into the race, Oscar Piastri tried to break the deadlock by entering the DRS zone of his teammate, hoping to convince the team to let him go after Max Verstappen—an intention he clearly stated over the radio (“I have the pace to attack Max”). However, McLaren didn’t slow Norris down, and given how difficult overtaking is at Suzuka, Norris had no real trouble keeping the #81 car behind him.

Oscar Piastri’s words
Oscar Piastri had to settle for 16 points, leaving him 13 behind Lando Norris: “I think we went for a more conservative strategy because it seemed like the best thing to do,” he told Sky Sport F1. “I said what I felt—I had really good pace. The team let us race. If they had let me through, I would’ve really liked that. If I had been in Lando’s position, I would’ve preferred the decision that was made.”

“It’s still a good haul of points and a great result for the team. I think the pace today was really strong and I was very happy. We got close to overtaking a few times, but track position is very important here. I think the race was actually decided in qualifying, and yesterday we didn’t quite put everything together, so I’ll definitely take the podium.” – he concluded at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.