How Oscar Piastri proved ‘special’ talent on ‘hardest track you’ll ever learn’
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri holds his P3 trophy after securing his first ever F1 podium.
Given the unique challenges of Suzuka, Oscar Piastri has been dubbed as one pundit as “special” for how he went about his business over the weekend.
Le Mans winner Richard Bradley, who has raced at the popular Japanese circuit on numerous occasions, including in the hotly-contested Super Formula, explained that the demands of the circuit make it one of the toughest tracks in the world for a rookie to learn.
Piastri took his first ever Formula 1 podium on Sunday after securing a front-row start, all on his first visit to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri masters ‘unforgiving’ Suzuka on first attempt
While the Australian rookie was out-paced by McLaren team-mate Lando Norris in race trim on Sunday, Bradley explained that the demands placed on the drivers around Suzuka mean that it is “very, very tricky for rookies” and it takes “four or five times” visiting to truly master its unique undulations.
But because Piastri was able to run close to his team-mate and beat him in qualifying, Bradley revealed what it is like to drive around a lap of Suzuka in the first instance – and mastering it is no mean feat.
“Suzuka is, having driven there many times in all sorts of cars, that is, for me, the hardest track that you’ll ever learn because it’s so narrow and it’s so unforgiving. If you make one mistake there, you’re in the fence,” Bradley explained on the latest edition of the On Track GP Podcast.
“If you screw up in real life at Suzuka, it can go very, very wrong. It feels small, it feels narrow, it feels like a tunnel vision effect, and it’s very, very blind as well.
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“The elevation on TV does it absolutely no justice. Firstly, you’re blind on the exit of the Esses, but then at the end of the Esses with Dunlop [Curve], you literally can’t see the exit, so you’re having to pinpoint and predict and hope that the track’s still there.
“It’s very, very tricky for rookies and I would say Suzuka probably takes four or five times of going around it to actually be 100% comfortable with the circuit.
“But that’s why the drivers love it, because it is such a challenge, and it’s my favourite circuit in the world. I love it.
“So to have not been there and to be relatively competitive to Lando, obviously not perfect in the race, but through the weekend, to be that close to him, I think that Oscar had a very, very good weekend.
“I think he’s going to be a future winner. There’s no question about it, and he’s doing himself a lot of favours at the minute.
“You see also the other big thing is the delta between him and Lando, at the beginning of the season to now, he’s made as much progress as the car’s made – he’s closed the gap substantially to Lando.
“I think the way he’s gone about it this year has been really, really impressive. But anyone in the industry knew he was a bit good. We all knew he was a bit special, so it’s really not that surprising to me.”
