Piastri finished third in Suzuka, one place behind teammate Lando Norris in a race won by Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman qualified on pole and led the race throughout, saving the pit stop cycle, controlling the 53-lap affair in front of the two McLarens.

In the latter stages, Piastri held a performance advantage over Norris and felt he could have challenged Verstappen for victory.

However, with overtaking at Suzuka difficult, he never got close enough to Norris to challenge his colleague, let alone attack the race leader.

“I think I needed the straight to be about another 100 metres longer, and then maybe I could have had a small chance,” Piastri said.

“I got close a couple of times, but never close enough to do anything realistically.

“I feel like I had strong pace, but just not quite enough to be able to do anything.

“With the dirty air, once you get so close, it’s very difficult to stay so close.

“The chance of anything happening realistically was pretty slim.”

Piastri did report his advantage to the team, though there was no assistance from the pit wall in terms of moving Norris aside.

It was a decision viewed by some as a missed opportunity, with the Australian the faster of the two McLaren drivers and therefore a stronger threat to Verstappen.

Piastri pitted on Lap 20, a lap before Norris and Verstappen, the leading two boxing next time by.

That too was criticised as, with two cars in the fight at the front of the race, McLaren left itself without a tyre delta on either car to the sole Red Bull.

“On the pit stop timing, [George] Russell had pitted, I think the lap before, and [Charles] Leclerc wasn’t that far behind,” Piastri explained of his strategy.

“We didn’t really know what the undercut power was going to be like.

“We’d kind of gone a fair way into the race on the mediums anyway, so from my side, there wasn’t anything that that obviously wrong with what we did.

“And then at the end, I said what I felt,” he added.

“Clearly, the team were happy with the way things were, and, I mean, if I was in Lando’s position, I would also be pretty happy with the way things were.

“That’s fine; just said what I felt in the car and that’s how we want to go.”

While Verstappen took the race win, second and third saw McLaren leave Japan with 33 points towards the constructors’ championship.

The papaya squad now sits atop the standings with 111 points from three races, and a 36-point advantage over Mercedes in second.

The victory moves Verstappen within a point of the drivers’ championship lead with 61 points – had Norris finished third in Japan, he’d had led that competition.

Piastri now sits third in the drivers’ championship on 49 points, having climbed above Russell.