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Lando’s lead of the Japanese Grand Prix may have only equated to around half a second, but it marked another notable milestone in his development this season, with the British driver having set himself the target of improving his race starts.

Lando flung himself down the outside of Max Verstappen off the line in Japan to briefly jump from third to first, before settling into second place after Turn 1, with Oscar in third.

The British racer had been disappointed with some of his race starts in 2023, referring to them as “not bad, but not great,” and saying that he hadn’t made as many overtakes off the line as he’d have hoped this season.

We’ve already seen several green shoots of improvement in this area, including his eye-catching overtake of Verstappen at the start of the British Grand Prix, when Lando passed the Red Bull from second and led for four laps. His impressive launch at Suzuka was another significant example.

Discussing the steps he’s taken to improve his getaways, Lando said to Sky Sports: “I have worked quite hard with Péter [Ladocsi], my start engineer, trying to improve my inputs and my feet.

“Because it’s downhill, you have to brake a little bit at the start of the race, but [previously] when I held the brake, my right foot would do something funny. I have been working quite hard trying to improve it. So, it’s [positive] when you make a start like today where I got the lead – I will claim I led half a second.

“I almost had Max, but then I had so much understeer in Turns 1 and 2 because we were expecting so much rear deg. I was too far underbalanced from the front wing, and I understeered when I went into Turns 1 and 2. I tried, I gave it a shot, but it wasn’t enough today.”

His strong launch was preceded by a fairly straightforward race compared to the Singapore Grand Prix’s tense conclusion just over a week ago. Although, Lando did have to briefly contend with George Russell, who was attempting a one-stop race.

Crossing the line in second at Suzuka, Lando earned his fourth podium of the season and 10th overall, helping to put the team within 49 points of Aston Martin in the Constructor’s standings and 88 ahead of Alpine. It also moved Lando level on points with Russell in the Drivers’ Championship, in seventh.

As well as showcasing his own development, Lando said that the race, and the Championship standings, were further justification for his excitement for what is to come at McLaren.  

“It was a great race,” he said to F1TV. “The pace was pretty strong, better than everyone behind by a decent amount. It wasn’t as good as Max, but it wasn’t far away, it wasn’t like he just cruised away easily.

“We are not miles away [from Red Bull], we are beating one of them already, just not the faster one. I don’t think any of us were expecting to be where we are now or even thinking it at the beginning of the year, so we are definitely taking it - we are taking a podium, we are taking a double podium.

“We know we still have a lot of things we can improve on and are going to improve. In such a short space of time, from the beginning of the year, we have been able to turn things around massively and start to close the gap to teams, so I think that is a good sign. It has only been one year of a good amount of progress, and we know we have a lot of things to come, so I am excited for the future.”

As Lando was diving down the outside of Max at the start of the race, Oscar was pilling on the pressure down the inside, sandwiching the Dutch driver between the two McLarens. However, the Aussie rookie was unable to sustain it and dropped to third behind his two more experienced competitors after getting boxed in at Turn 1.

“I got a really good launch, but in all honesty, I got a little bit excited with the throttle pedal,” said Oscar to Sky Sports when explaining his race start. “In the second phase, I just had far too much wheel spin, and that is where I lost that ground to Max again. Lando clearly had the best start of the three of us by a fair bit.

“I tried my best, but I wasn’t far enough along and realistically, even if I got in front of Max, it wouldn’t have been for long.”

Oscar temporarily returned to second after undercutting Lando in the pits during a Virtual Safety Car period but handed the position back to his teammate, who was lapping faster on fresher tyres. After making light work of challenges from Russell and Charles Leclerc, Oscar crossed the line in third with a 7.504s buffer on the Ferrari driver.

“I think that we did everything really sensibly,” he continued. “Clearly, I didn’t have the same pace as Lando today, so there are some things to work on from myself. I think the VSC was at the perfect time for me, that worked very nicely.

“These kinds of high deg races are the main focus at the moment, and it is very hard to improve on them without actually just doing the races, so I am trying to learn as much as I can. But for now, I will enjoy the podium.

“I am just happy that I got to settle into third in the end. That was all of the pace we had for the day.”

In securing his maiden F1 podium, Oscar became the first driver since Lance Stroll in 2017 to notch a rostrum in his rookie season, and the first McLaren driver to do so since Kevin Magnussen in 2014.

“I am very, very happy to get my first podium in F1, it is a very, very special day,” said the Salesforce Driver of the Day to F1TV. “I think there is still a lot to learn and a lot to improve on, but I will soak up the champagne - I stink from it, but that is a nice problem to have.”