Oscar Piastri said that the F1 2026 cars require some \u201cinteresting things\u201d, and so staying \u201cdisciplined\u201d helped him on his way to third on the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
Piastri<\/a> did say that he was guilty of trying too hard on his \u201cbit of a mess\u201d final Q3 lap, but finds it \u201cimpossible\u201d to know with these cars how much more time he actually could have unlocked.<\/p>\n Oscar Piastri explains disciplined approach to F1 2026 cars<\/p>\n Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for news you can trust.<\/p>\n On the evidence of final practice, Mercedes were expected to waltz to another front-row lockout. However, McLaren and Ferrari made life difficult.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Kimi Antonelli did head a Mercedes one-two from George Russell. Piastri impressed to secure third on the grid.<\/p>\n Appearing alongside Antonelli and Russell in the post-qualifying press conference, Piastri was asked how clean of a session that was for him.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it was pretty well executed. I think the final lap of Q3 was a bit of a mess, but apart from that, I think we built into things well.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a pretty good idea of what I wanted from the car after FP3 and I think we did a good job of achieving that, and then also how you have to drive. You\u2019ve got to do some interesting things, so I think just staying disciplined on that worked well and I\u2019m happy to end up where we are.<\/p>\n \u201cI think everyone seemed to chop and change a bit through qualifying. We didn\u2019t look great in Q1 and then Q2 we came alive and managed to hold that pace. I thought the Ferraris were going to be on a par at one point, so it was all a bit of a mixed bag, but happy to end up third.\u201d<\/p>\n Having called his final Q3 run messy, Piastri was asked if he could have been closer to the Mercedes pair with a cleaner lap.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe a tiny bit, but it\u2019s always impossible to know.<\/p>\n \u201cI think especially with these cars, it\u2019s very easy to think you\u2019re going faster and doing the right thing, and you end up going slower because the engine doesn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s a tricky balance, but I think it was pretty close to what we could have done.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be closer. I think we\u2019re learning more and more about the car and about the power unit every weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this weekend in Suzuka, let\u2019s say being slower in the esses than Mercedes is not necessarily a bad thing, which is weird to say. But yeah, I think we were saved a little bit by that.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, I think we\u2019ve been more competitive in general.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we\u2019re under no illusion, we\u2019ve still got a pretty big gap to fill.\u201d<\/p>\n As Piastri alluded to, the F1 2026 cars mean a different formula for qualifying success.<\/p>\n Not necessarily about ultimate speed on the ragged edge anymore, drivers need to nail their battery harvesting and recharge.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I just tried too hard,\u201d said Piastri, as he returned to his Q3 experience, \u201ctried to push a bit much and the rear end said no a few times.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it is difficult to know because sometimes you feel like you do a better lap and you go faster through the corners and you run into some problems with deployment. So, it\u2019s not always that easy to understand why you make jumps in lap time and stuff like that.<\/p>\n \u201cBut yes, in my case, just trying too hard.\u201d<\/p>\n More on Oscar Piastri from PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n Oscar Piastri hopes for McLaren \u20182023-spec upgrades\u2019 to close gap to rivals<\/a><\/p>\n Oscar Piastri \u2018on the back foot\u2019 admits McLaren chief after double DNS<\/a><\/p>\n At the third attempt, Piastri will look to make his first grand prix start of the season on Sunday at Suzuka.<\/p>\n He crashed out on his lap to the grid in Melbourne, while in China, neither McLaren MCL40 took the start, due to separate issues related to the Mercedes power unit battery.<\/p>\n Piastri was asked whether he feels on the back foot in terms of racing knowledge with these F1 2026 cars.<\/p>\n McLaren team principal Andrea Stella does believe that Piastri is on the back foot with his lack of F1 2026 racing experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, not necessarily,\u201d he said, \u201cbut you don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know until you\u2019re in the situation.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve tried to learn as much as I can from watching the races and even through practice.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been some interesting moments with cars at different speeds in different parts of the track. I overtook someone into Degner 1 yesterday, which was different.<\/p>\n \u201cBut yeah, you\u2019re learning all the time and I think just the level of awareness you need is very high.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think ultimately pace is going to be the thing that decides your result, and the start as well. Well, maybe not the start if it\u2019s these guys around you, but yeah, we\u2019ll see what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n