Piastri’s ‘pretty impressive’ drive after big upgrades as Mad Max makes statement: F1 LIVE

LIVE: Armed with a fresh contract extension at McLaren, Australia’s Oscar Piastri arrives at Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix with another major boost – a raft of upgrades that he hopes will deliver him a first podium of his rookie F1 career.

On the back of his 17th-to-seventh drive in Singapore, Piastri this week locked in a contract extension that will see him remain at the papaya team until 2026.

Now he prepares for his first-ever attempt at the Mie Prefecture track with its 18 corners – many of them challenging high-speed turns.

In the first practice session on Friday afternoon, Piastri finished a strong seventh-fastest as Max Verstappen made a massive statement, lapping in 1:31.647 seconds to open up a whopping gap of 0.626 seconds on the rest of the field.

Watch every practice, qualifying and race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship live and ad-break free in racing on Kayo Sports. Join now and start streaming instantly >

It was a significant return to form for Red Bull, who in Singapore failed to win a race for the first time this season. But teammate Sergio Perez was just 11th in the second Red Bull car, almost 1.4 seconds off the Dutchman’s fastest time.

Carlos Sainz was second for Ferrari, while Lando Norris was third for McLaren – but promisingly for Piastri, he was just three-tenths of a second behind his teammate’s time.

Charles Leclerc was fourth in the second Ferrari, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda of AlphaTauri and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.

Speaking after the session, McLaren CEO Zak Brown crowed about the young gun’s performance in his first session at Suzuka.

“We got the upgrades on Oscar’s car last night, so it’s good to see him get up to speed very quickly,” he said.

He added: “We tried the new tyres but I think we’ll be competitive this weekend… I think it’ll be a fun race.”

Asked how he prepared his rookie driver for the tricky circuit, Brown said: “A lot of simulation, a lot of simulator time… it took him about five laps (to adjust to the new track).

“This is a tricky track. For him to get up to speed so quickly is pretty impressive. I think the simulator had something to do with it but so is his talent.”

Speaking about Piastri’s development this season – in line with the significant development of the car through the year – Brown said: “I think there’s a lot more to come, which is the exciting part. His maturity is what has been most impressive and his technical feedback and understanding.

“I think no one is surprised at the pace but he’s so mature, he’s very calm. He kind of takes one session at a time and come show-time he’s right there.

“You can see his confidence is growing because his Fridays now are becoming more competitive than the start of the year.

“Our driver line-up – of all the things that need to be competitive, I’m not worried about the driver line-up.”

PREVIEW

Speaking ahead of the grand prix weekend, Piastri said: “This is a race that I’m really looking forward to taking on. It’s an old-school track with undulations and fast, flowing corner sequences and it looks great fun to drive.

I’ve only driven it in the simulator, as I’ve never raced here before, so it’s another new circuit for me.”

But Piastri has impressed this season when taking on tracks for the first time. Singapore was the third track where he scored points that he’d previously only driven in a simulator, after Albert Park and Zandvoort.

Crucial to his hopes of a first-ever grand prix podium – having secured one podium in a sprint race this season, with a best feature race finish of fourth – is a radical MCL60 upgrade that Lando Norris enjoyed last weekend.

PIT TALK PODCAST: Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz is the first non-Red Bull Racing driver to win a race in 2023 after a defusing a Mercedes chase in a Singapore GP classic.

The new aero package boosts downforce thanks to a new-look side-pod, fresh front and rear wing endplates, as well as major changes to the floor and floor edge, fences, and diffuser, plus new aerodynamic features around the Halo.

Piastri said: “I’m really looking forward to getting the upgrades that Lando had in Singapore as the team have clearly done an awesome job.”

Norris finished P2 in Singapore, and he credited his strong finish to the new upgrades.

“The upgrades paid off, this is down to that, we wouldn’t have finished on the podium without the upgrades, so big thanks to the team and another trophy for them,” Norris said.

“Oscar is going to have the upgrades as well, so we’ll have two cars to battle and push the guys at the front and that’s going to help even more.”

Piastri this week also revealed a major piece of advice from mentor and agent Mark Webber, who enjoyed plenty of podiums at Suzuka in his career.

Piastri said Webber told him: “Prepare your neck for Sector 1. That was the first piece of advice and yeah, obviously, there’s so many factors here, you know.

“The wind can play a massive, massive role, especially through the high-speed corners; it’s a long race, a lot of corners where you put a lot of energy through the tyres. So yeah, a lot of factors. But your neck’s probably a big one.”

F1 Japan coverage start times (Fox Sports 506 and Kayo)

FRIDAY

PRACTICE 1 Midday AEST (session starts 12.30pm)

PRACTICE 2 3.45pm AEST (starts 4pm)

SATURDAY

PRACTICE 3 12.45pm AEST (starts 12.30pm)

QUALIFYING 3pm AEST (starts 4pm)

SUNDAY

RACE 1.30PM AEDT (starts 3pm)

LIVE BLOG

Follow the action in our live blog below. If you can’t see the blog, click here.