Ahead of practice for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri was asked what it would take for a smile to return to his face.
“Start the race – that would probably help,” was the answer.
“Just to take part in the grand prix, that would be good. We’ll try and at least see the lights come on this week and go from there.”
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While it was an obvious answer, and said with tongue firmly in cheek, there is a very real possibility what happens this weekend at Suzuka will make or break the Aussie’s season.
The Japanese Grand Prix could me make or break for Oscar Piastri’s championship challenge. NurPhoto via Getty Images
Piastri crashed during the reconnaissance laps on the way to the grid in Melbourne, before both he and teammate Lando Norris were scuppered by separate power unit issues in Shanghai.
While Norris never even made it out of the garage, Piastri’s car was pushed off the grid only minutes before the start of the race.
“It’s been a while since I’ve watched two grands prix on TV,” Piastri said in the media pen in Shanghai as Mercedes took back-to-back 1-2s.
The 24-year-old is already 48 points behind championship leader George Russell, with the Mercedes team clearly the class of the field so far.
The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian races has left a five-week gap between Japan and the next race in Miami.
What happens in Suzuka will likely determine how McLaren spend that time, and if Piastri’s season is already dead in the water.
McLaren plight highlighted by one stat
With only one grand prix under their belt – Norris managed to get to the chequered flag in Melbourne – the Woking team will desperately want a clean, trouble-free weekend where both cars make the finish on Sunday afternoon.
The car itself looks to be the third-fastest behind Mercedes and Ferrari. Should both finish Sunday’s race, McLaren will be able to dedicate a chunk of resources in the break to improving the car’s performance and trying to close the gap to the front.
Oscar Piastri is yet to even start a grand prix. LAT Images
But should they have another woeful weekend, those resources will be tied up just trying to make the car go. It would almost certainly be game over in terms of a genuine championship challenge.
If there is one stat that highlights McLaren’s plight better than any other, it’s that they’ve completed fewer racing laps than Aston Martin – the same Aston Martin car that is so bad its drivers risk permanent nerve damage if they drive it for too long.
Across Melbourne and the two races in China, Aston Martin has completed a combined 142 racing laps. McLaren have completed just 96. Mercedes and Ferrari have both completed all 266 racing laps.
The double DNS in China was the team’s second in history – although arguably this is the first on merit. The only other double DNS was at the infamous 2005 US Grand Prix at Indianapolis where all the teams running Michelin tyres peeled into the pits at the end of the formation lap over safety concerns over the tyres’ integrity on the banked final corner.
McLaren have completed fewer racing laps than Aston Martin. Getty
McLaren pointed the finger firmly at engine supplier Mercedes for the unrelated issues in Shanghai. Piastri in Suzuka confirmed that was indeed the case, and the team has got to the bottom of it.
“We’ve put a lot of joint effort into understanding the problem and making sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said.
“We know what went wrong at least.”
‘The gap is massive … a second a lap’
McLaren looks to be in a battle for third with Red Bull in terms of outright car pace, with poor reliability the difference between the two as it stands.
The two papaya cars locked out the third row for the main race in both Melbourne and Shanghai, and likely would have done so for the China sprint had it not been for a power deployment issue for Charles Leclerc.
“I think we kind of know where we sit in the pecking order, so we’re not expecting too many surprises there,” Piastri said.
“Just executing a solid weekend would be good.”
Mercedes have been the class of the field in the first two races of the year. Getty
Should they manage to finish the race, the 24-year-old is “optimistic that we can turn things around quickly and we’ve proven we can do that”.
In 2023, McLaren started the season buried in the midfield before upgrades introduced in Austria and Great Britain turned them into front-runners virtually overnight.
But Piastri warned even a similar silver bullet won’t be enough to immediately close the gap.
“It is a massive gap to close, though. Even the sprint race in China, the gap is up to a second a lap that we’re lacking,” he said.
“So even if we bring some of the upgrades we had in 2023 that vaulted us towards the front of the grid, we need more than one of those to close the gap … we need to find quite a lot from various areas.
The McLaren duo will be hoping just to make it to the end of the race on Sunday. LAT Images
“Just try to put in good performances, that’s all I can do. I’ve been happy with my qualifying so far this year.
“It’s just I’ve not had any chances to show it in the race. Clearly the picture is that we’re behind Mercedes and Ferrari, so all I can do is just when I’m on track, show what I can do.”
McLaren are third in the overall standings, already 80 points behind leaders Mercedes and ‌49 adrift of ‌second-placed Ferrari.
For Australian fans, the Japanese race is in the best time zone until the Azerbaijan race in September.
Qualifying on Saturday is at 5pm (AEDT), and the race on Sunday is at 4pm (AEDT).