Oscar Piastri fires WARNING to Max Verstappen at Japanese Grand Prix

Piastri na P2 in Sprint Shootout op Spa-Francorchamps — Photo: © LAT Images

Japanese Grand Prix

Piastri fires WARNING to Verstappen at Japanese Grand Prix

The Australian rookie will start second and wants to attack the polesitter

Luis Raya

Saturday 23 September 2023 12:57

Oscar Piastri has warned that he will push for the race win at the Japanese Grand Prix after qualifying behind Max Verstappen.

McLaren continued their superb weekend at Suzuka with rookie Piastri and Lando Norris finishing second and third respectively, albeit comfortably adrift of Verstappen, the rampant polesitter.

The British team displayed strong pace in practice, clocking times ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes, and their performance was showcased in qualifying.

Indeed, Piastri completed a blistering lap and rounded off the front row.

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The 22-year-old later delved into his impressive effort, claiming he felt comfortable with McLaren's improvements at the circuit.

"The first lap was pretty solid. I was quite happy with it," he said.

"The last chicane I could've done a better job, but it was a good lap. On the second lap my first sector was good and the next two sectors, not so good. Happy to send it in P2, it's been a really good weekend for the team so far."

"Got upgrades on the car and put it in there quick. We thought we might have a decent chance around here, but still got to make it happen. Happy to be second for the team, second and third. Very very happy."

McLaren enjoyed a strong qualifying session in Suzuka, with Piastri finishing second and Norris third

Gunning for first

Piastri achieved his best F1 qualifying result to date, becoming just the fifth Australian to start on the front row, quite an achievement in his debut season.

The McLaren driver finished 0.581s behind Verstappen, and will start ahead of Norris, Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz.

However, despite lining up among more experienced drivers, Piastri has no fear and is solely focused on trying to overtake Verstappen on Sunday.

"It's the first time I've started on the front row for a while," he said. "It'll be cool, there's only one car ahead to overtake so I'll try and make that happen."