26/09/2023
NEWS STORY
As he becomes the sixth Australian to make it to an F1 podium, Oscar Piastri insists that the best is yet to come.
Sunday's third place saw the Australian join countrymen Tim Schenken, Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo and world champions Alan Jones and Jack Brabham in representing their country on an F1 podium.
However, while the debate on social media was whether McLaren had favoured his teammate Lando Norris, Piastri was keen to play down his achievement.
"It wasn't my best race ever, but it was enough to pick up a trophy at the end," he smiled.
"It feels pretty special," he added. "I'll remember it for a very, very long time. I can't thank the team enough for giving me this opportunity.
"There's not many people in the world that get this opportunity in their whole life, and I managed to have it in my first season.
Losing out to Norris at the start, Piastri hung on to the exhaust pipe of his teammate until he pitted on Lap 12, just after being passed by Charles Leclerc and as the VSC was deployed following the Perez/Magnussen clash.
Rejoining in 9th, he was soon up to third as the first round of stops got underway in earnest.
Inheriting second when Russell made his one stop of the afternoon, the Australian was subsequently 'passed' by his McLaren teammate who had warned the team: "The longer I stay behind, the worse you're going to make the race for me."
Piastri made his second stop on Lap 35, rejoining in fifth, while Norris stopped a lap later and rejoined ahead of the Australian as the pair hunted down George Russell, who was on a one-stop strategy.
On Lap 42 came the pass that saw Piastri join that elite list of fellow Australians as he passed Russell for third.
"I knew I had to try and get past otherwise I was going to get stuck for a while," said Piastri. "That one was... was a bit close," he said of the move in Turn 1.
"Our pace after that was very strong and I think in the second half of the race I got more into a groove more into a rhythm and the pace was a bit better. I'm very, very happy and excited to try and get some more."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Suzuka here.