Piastri: Mercedes beatable – but we still have a ‘pretty big gap to fill’

Oscar Piastri believes McLaren has the tools to challenge Mercedes this season, even if the gap remains significant, following the Aussie's strong run to P2 in the Japanese Grand Prix.

After back-to-back DNSs in the opening rounds, Piastri finally got his campaign underway at Suzuka, storming into the lead off the line and controlling the early laps.

The race, however, was reshaped by a Safety Car after Oliver Bearman’s massive 50G crash. Both Piastri and George Russell had already pitted, while pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli gained a free stop that allowed the Italian to reclaim the lead and charge to his second consecutive win.

Speaking to reporters after the race, the McLaren charger speculated how his race would have unfolded with the Safety Car.

“I would have loved to have seen how it would have panned out,” he said.

“I think you know I need to look back and see how you know whether Kimi was quicker than George or similar pace.

“I think if he was the same pace as George then it would have been a pretty stressful afternoon.

“I probably would have had both of them right on my gearbox but yeah I mean I think once Kimi had clean air clearly he was a lot faster than me so I’m not sure we would have won the race but I certainly would have loved to have found out.”

Beating Mercedes is possible

Despite finishing second, Piastri was encouraged by his ability to keep Russell behind for a significant portion of the race.

“Yes,” he said when asked if Mercedes were beatable this year. “I think we know from last year that even when you have the best car you still need to operate it at an incredibly high level.

“I think today on our side we did a really good job of that but I think it’s yeah it’s interesting to see you know when someone else has the fastest car that it’s not that straightforward.

“The fact that I could keep George behind for so long was really encouraging but you know we’re under no illusion we did everything right this weekend and we still got beaten by 15 seconds.

“So, we’ve got a pretty big gap to fill, I’m confident that we can get there but yeah we’ve still got some work to do.”

With five weeks to debrief and refine the MCL40 before the Miami GP, Piastri and McLaren are already plotting how to chip away at Mercedes’ dominance and make the Woking team a genuine contender in 2026.

2026 Japanese Grand Prix - Race results

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