Oscar Piastri has responded to Max Verstappen‘s comments following the Japanese Grand Prix. The Dutch driver suggested that he would have been out of sight on the Suzuka circuit if he had been driving a McLaren, and the Australian admits that the MCL39 is indeed a stronger car. Piastri is therefore pleased to be in the McLaren, rather than the ‘difficult’ RB21.
“I’m very happy with what I’ve done,” Max Verstappen said after his victory at the Japanese Grand Prix. “But I don’t even want to think about what I could have done if I had been in that other car (the McLaren). You wouldn’t have seen me!” The Dutchman’s remarks continue to elicit responses from the McLaren camp a week after his magnificent win.
Lando Norris, for instance, has already invited Verstappen to test the MCL39. “I look forward to seeing the disappointment on his face when he gets out,” the McLaren driver added. Oscar Piastri also responds to Verstappen’s ‘light-hearted’ comment. “But I think if Max had qualified third and we had been first and second, it would have looked very different. I don’t think it’s normal for two cars to stay within two seconds of the race leader for fifty laps.”
Happy with the McLaren
The Australian is therefore pleased to be driving the MCL39, rather than the difficult-to-handle RB21. “The car clearly looks difficult,” Piastri continues. “We saw that with Liam, and Checo (Pérez) last year. Also with Yuki in Japan. I think it’s very difficult to have immediate success in an environment so focused on how Max has driven over the past ten years. So I’m very happy to be driving a McLaren, and not a Red Bull.”
