McLaren ‘surprised’ themselves with Japan pace as Stella hails 'positive' day after Piastri podium

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella admitted the reigning World Champions "surprised" themselves with their pace in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix as they took the fight to Mercedes, with Oscar Piastri eventually finishing second.

It has been a challenging start to the 2026 season for McLaren, with neither of their cars able to start the Chinese Grand Prix due to electrical issues, but events in Suzuka offered plenty of hope to the Woking-based outfit.

Piastri – who was making his first Grand Prix start of the season having also crashed ahead of lights out in Australia – stormed into the lead of the race from P3 on the grid and managed to keep George Russell at bay in the opening stages. However, the Australian was unlucky to lose out to Kimi Antonelli during the Safety Car, the timing of which aided the teenager to pick up a cheap pit stop.

But Piastri held on to second to grab McLaren’s first podium of the year, with Lando Norris finishing fifth in what was overall a “very positive day” according to team boss Stella.

“We were in condition to start the race with two cars, which is the first time this year, and we were in condition to complete the race," Stella said following the Grand Prix in Suzuka.

"I think today we confirmed the progress that we saw yesterday in Qualifying, progress that allowed Oscar to lead the race after a very good start. We were surprised ourselves, especially at the end of the first stint, where we not only were able to keep Russell behind, but we were also opening the gap at the end of the first stint.

“So, we thought that we should go first, so that we could retain the leadership, because we wanted to give it a go at winning the race.”

With McLaren seeking to keep track position, Piastri pitted on Lap 18 of the race, which prompted Mercedes to respond with a stop for Russell on Lap 21.

However, the Safety Car was deployed following Ollie Bearman's 50G crash on the very next lap of the race. That enabled Antonelli to jump into the lead, as he saved time pitting under the Safety Car, with the teenager bouncing back having initially dropped to sixth thanks to a poor getaway from pole position.

Once in clean air, the Italian was able to comfortably pull away from Piastri in the second half of the race, to win by 14 seconds.

“We will never know whether, without the Safety Car, it would have been possible [to win] or not," explained Stella.

"I think it would have been possible against Russell, because we saw that Russell was struggling anyhow to overtake even Ferrari. I think today McLaren and Ferrari were on a similar pace.

“Antonelli, though, he had a faster pace than anybody else. So, I think Antonelli at some stage would have been in the competition for the victory. So, we will not know if Oscar could have won the race or not.

"Ultimately, it doesn't make a big difference. I think today we should just take the positives, which I said at the start.”

Stella was also quick to add his own praise for Piastri’s performance, the Australian bouncing back after failing to start either of the first two Grands Prix.

As well as the points lost from those, Piastri had less experience than his rivals in terms of how to handle the energy deployment, and when and where to attack.

“I think there's a lot of positives for Oscar himself," Stella continued. "He has been driving very well at the start of the season.

"It's a shame that he has not been in a condition to prove it and demonstrate it. Today he had the chance and he did it."