Oscar Piastri eager to 'cause headaches' after McLaren breakthrough

Oscar Piastri is hopeful McLaren can “cause headaches” going forward after a strong showing last time out at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old kicked his season off at Suzuka after enduring painful non-starts in Australia and China.

A lightning start from third on the grid saw him shoot into the lead before he engaged in a battle with George Russell as Mercedes sought to continue its perfect start to the year.

Mercedes eventually won out with Kimi Antonelli, who benefited from a well-timed safety car, but Piastri held onto second place in a strong display for the McLaren team.

Piastri highlighted it was one of his best weekends in the sport.

“[It] was probably one of my best weekends in F1,” Piastri told media including RacingNews365.

“I felt like I hit the ground running in practice, qualifying. We did a really good job of getting the car into the window I was happy with on Friday. 

“I felt like I drove well in qualifying. In the race, there wasn’t anything more we could have done. We got a good start, the pace was good. 

“I felt like I was strategic or smart with how I used the boost and how I managed that side of racing. Our strategy was good, you know, we didn’t blink too early. 

“Obviously, the Safety Car was a shame, but I think as race weekends go, we couldn’t have done any better than that.”

As McLaren looks to continue its momentum into the Miami round, Piastri hopes the Woking-based squad can maintain the threat it posed in Japan.

“For me, I’m very happy with the performance that I put in, very happy with the performance from the whole team,” he said.

“Clearly, we’ve still got some, firstly, performance to find, but also on Lando's side of the garage was a pretty interrupted weekend with all the issues, and clearly the start of the season has not been easy for us with reliability, so we’ve got a long way to go.

“We showed that if we get everything as good as we can get it, then we can cause a few headaches.”