McLaren secured its first podium of the 2026 season in Japan, but the team says it is still not fully back at the top level.
Oscar Piastri played a key role with a strong qualifying performance, starting near the front and putting the team in a competitive position early in the race.
A clean race start and good execution helped McLaren fight with top teams like Ferrari and Mercedes, showing clear improvement compared to earlier races.
However, the safety car timing affected their chances, costing Piastri a possible win and limiting the final result to a podium finish.
The team’s progress is also linked to better reliability after earlier problems, including failures that stopped them from racing in previous rounds.
Despite the positive result, team boss Andrea Stella believes McLaren still has a gap to close before it can consistently challenge for wins.
