McLaren driver Oscar Piastri has said his second-place finish at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix means more to him than 50% of his nine Formula 1 victories. The Australian explained he maximized his performance across the weekend despite a poor start to the season. Piastri now holds sixth in the drivers' standings with 21 points after three rounds.
Oscar Piastri faced a challenging opening to the 2026 F1 season. At the Australian Grand Prix, his home race, he crashed on reconnaissance laps and did not start the 58-lap event. In China, Piastri and teammate Lando Norris both suffered electrical issues before the main race, leaving him with just three points from the sprint race. He sits sixth overall with 21 points entering the Japanese weekend. Piastri delivered a standout performance at Suzuka, finishing second after extracting the maximum from himself, the car, and the team in practice, qualifying, and the race. Though beaten by 15 seconds, he departed happier than after many victories. In an interview on the High Performance podcast, Piastri reflected: 'Suzuka this year, for example. You look at it in the history books in 10 years, and it'll say, OK, I finished second and at this point I've won nine F1 races. But honestly, I would probably put that second place higher in my list of personal achievements than probably 50% of those wins that I've had so far.' He stressed the importance of leaving no effort untapped, regardless of the result. 'As long as you can leave the weekend knowing that I did absolutely everything I could in my control, that's good enough for me,' Piastri said.
