McLaren Shows Strong Pace but Stays Grounded After Promising Friday at Japanese Grand Prix

Suzuka, Japan, March 27, 2026 — McLaren delivered an encouraging start to the 2026 FIA Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri topping Free Practice 2 while Lando Norris battled through a disrupted day to finish inside the top four.

The Woking-based outfit showed flashes of strong pace across both sessions at Suzuka Circuit, but remained cautious about their overall competitiveness, particularly against rivals Mercedes.

Piastri Encouraged by Progress After FP2 Benchmark

Piastri emerged as the standout performer for McLaren on Friday, finishing P4 in FP1 before surging to P1 in FP2 with a 1:30.133 lap. Reflecting on the day, the Australian highlighted the team’s steady progress and positive momentum heading into the weekend.

“Overall, it was a decent day for us. We felt like we made some good progress, particularly in the second Practice session, which was encouraging. The feeling is positive, and we’ve gathered some valuable data that puts us in a solid position.”

Despite leading the timesheets, Piastri acknowledged the challenge posed by competitors.

“We know there’s still work to do, and it’s clear that some of our competitors, especially Mercedes, are very strong. However, the focus is on our own performance. We hope to build on the progress from today and carry that momentum forward to be even more competitive.”

Norris Faces Disrupted Running but Finds Late Gains

On the other side of the garage, Norris endured a more difficult Friday. After finishing P3 in FP1, the reigning world champion managed P4 in FP2, but struggled with limited track time due to setup work and reliability concerns.

“Tricky day, we didn’t get the laps we needed. Early in FP2 we couldn’t do much more than one lap at a time, and a lot of the morning was aero work, so the running we did manage wasn’t really representative.”

The Briton stressed the importance of track time at a demanding circuit like Suzuka.

“Around a track like this, you just want laps to build confidence and refine the setup, and right now we’re two or three steps behind with no long runs and very limited consecutive running.”

However, Norris remained optimistic after late-session improvements.

“With that said, we pulled a few things together at the end and learned a bit, even if it wasn’t as much as we’d have liked. We’ll use the night to reset, go through the data we have, and try to fix some things so we can get meaningful laps on the board and get back on track tomorrow.”

McLaren Management: Strong Effort, Realistic Expectations

McLaren’s Senior Director of Racing, Randy Singh, praised the team’s resilience, particularly after resolving a hydraulic issue on Norris’ car during the day.

“We made the most of our opportunities today despite a challenging start. After FP1, the team did a fantastic job to manage a hydraulic issue on Lando’s car and ensure we still gathered valuable data from the session.”

Singh emphasized that while Piastri’s FP2 result was encouraging, the team remains realistic about its standing.

“Seeing Oscar finish P1 is always encouraging, and it shows we are working hard to extract the maximum from the package, but we remain realistic. We don’t believe the fundamental pecking order has changed since the last race.”

Looking ahead, McLaren’s focus remains on execution and continuous improvement.

“Our focus for this weekend is clear: maximise every session, harvest as many points as we can, and continue to learn what we need to develop the car further. The season has presented its challenges, but every race is an opportunity to improve.”

McLaren Eyes Consistency Heading Into Qualifying

With competitive pace shown in FP2 and valuable data gathered despite setbacks, McLaren heads into the remainder of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend aiming to convert Friday promise into a strong qualifying and race result.