Why Oscar Piastri ranks 2026 Japanese GP second place above 50% of his F1 wins

McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri has explained why he feels his second-place finish at the 2026 Japanese Grand Prix meant more than half of his race wins.

The nine-time grand prix winner arrived at the Japanese race weekend on the back of a torrid start to the season. At the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, also his home race, he crashed on the reconnaissance laps and so was unable to start the 58-lap campaign. At the second round in China, both he and his team-mate Lando Norris faced electrical issues before the race. 

With only three points scored in the Chinese sprint race, he had work to do in Japan. Now, with 21 points after the first three rounds, Piastri sits sixth in the drivers' standings. 

Reflecting on the podium during an interview on the High Performance podcast, the Australian driver explained: "Suzuka this year, for example. You look at it in the history books in 10 years, and it'll say, 'OK, I finished second and at this point I've won nine F1 races.' But honestly, I would probably put that second place higher in my list of personal achievements than probably 50% of those wins that I've had so far.

"Because I know that I didn't leave anything on the table in that weekend. I got the absolute most out of myself in practice. I got very close to the absolute most in qualifying. I got the absolute most out of the race, and we were quick enough to finish second.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

"Me and the car and the team, that was all we had. And again, the history books will say I got beaten by 15 seconds. But that's where our sport is a little bit funny and where you have to be very disciplined in focusing on the right things because again, I left that weekend happier than I probably left half the races I've won in my career.

"That's a really big, important factor for me, making sure you leave every weekend knowing that you've done absolutely everything that you can, regardless of whether you've won the race, whether you finished 10th, whether you finished 15th, even.

"As long as you can leave the weekend knowing that I did absolutely everything I could in my control, that's good enough for me."