Oscar Piastri was able to start and reached the podium in Japan

The Australian had not been able to start the first two rounds of the year, but the bad streak was finally ended in Suzuka: he started, had a great race and was second, behind Kimi Antonelli.

It is true, without the safety car perhaps he could have even achieved his first victory of 2026, but with the salt that he had been carrying, Oscar Piastri’s second place in the Japanese GP, third date of the season, it must be experienced as an absolute success. The Australian from McLaren had not been able to start either in Australia or in China.

In Melbourne, in his home race, Piastri was left without starting due to a mistake entirely his own. In the open pit laps, prior to the formation of the grid, the oceanic driver stepped on a curb, lost control of his MCL40 and ended up hitting the wall that damaged his car.

After being angry for missing the local competition, he arrived in Shanghai hoping to get revenge, but… His McLaren was removed from the grid before the previous lap due to battery problems. Once again Oscar had to pack his bag with his clean sweatshirt.

But bad streaks (like good ones) have to be ended and Piastri achieved it in Japan. Finally the competition could begin, and not only that, he could have even won. The Australian jumped to the lead from the third box in the game taking advantage of Kimi Antonelli’s terrible shot. And he led until lap 19, when he entered the pits and left George Russell as the leader. Piastri seemed like he could hold off the Englishman throughout the race, because his Silver Arrow did not have the same performance as Antonelli’s. But the strategy was shattered with the introduction of the safety car for Oliver Bearman’s accident on lap 22. Russell had stopped, but Antonelli had not. Well, some salt was left in the Australian’s aura. Safety car, Kimi stopped and went back ahead.

“It turns out that we were not wrong when we can finally start!” said Piastri after finishing second and adding his 27th podium in F1. “It would have been very interesting to see what would have happened without the safety car. I think I could have kept George behind and just before the pit stops we were pulling away again. It’s a shame we couldn’t see what would have happened, but for us, at this moment, being disappointed that we finished second is a good position,” said Piastri.

“Big thanks to the team, we did an excellent job with what we had. Clearly we still need to improve our performance, but we took advantage of every opportunity we had in this race.” Finally, Oscar was able to race in 2026.