Suzuka International Racing Course, Sunday, 7 April

Hear from McLaren Formula 1 drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, as well as Team Principal Andrea Stella, after the Japanese Grand Prix.

As it happened:

• A collision between Albon and Ricciardo on the opening lap forces a red flag
• After a 25-minute delay, all drivers get away clean. Lando and Oscar retain their starting positions
• Lando and Oscar pit on consecutive laps for Hard tyres, the first team in the lead group to pit
• Lando makes a timely overtake to get ahead of Hamilton who is on older tyres to take P4
• Two Mercedes caught in two laps, Lando now ahead of Russell and into P3
• Perez gets ahead of Lando thanks to a fresh set of Hards, four laps younger than Lando's
• Lando closes the gap to Leclerc and the two dive into the pit-lane one after the other. Returning to the track, Russell splits the pair with Lando the last of the trio
• Lando takes just one lap to get ahead of Russell again at Turn 1
• Sainz moves ahead of Lando with 10 laps remaining. Lando P5, Oscar P7
• Oscar battles to keep P7 but can't hold off Russell heading into the final lap

Started	3rd
Finished	5th
Fastest lap	1m35.186s on Lap 51 (+1.480s, 10th)
Pit stops	2, Lap 11 [Medium/Hard], (2.3s) and Lap 26 [Hard/Hard] (2.6s)

“Tough race! We gave it a good try, but we just didn't have enough pace today, so trying to cover and stay ahead of the Ferraris was challenging. I think we still did a good job and maximised the points but starting third and finishing fifth is never the nicest thing to happen. It’s the maximum of what we could achieve today though, so I think we have to be happy with it as much as it doesn’t feel like a great result.”

Started	6th
Finished	8th
Fastest lap	1m34.802s on Lap 35 (+1.096s, 7th)
Pit stops	2, Lap 12 [Medium/Hard] (2.9s) and Lap 32 [Hard/Hard] (2.4s)

"It was a difficult afternoon. Things didn’t quite click into place and we weren't fighting for the positions we wanted to. However, it's four points finishes on the bounce this year and there’s plenty to take away and try to learn from. We’ll go back to the factory and turn our attention to China where we’ll look to secure more valuable points for the team.”

“Overall, it’s a positive outcome to the race here in Suzuka in terms of scoring valuable points with both cars. Obviously after a strong qualifying, we could have hoped for trying to consolidate a podium finish, but it wasn’t on the cards, in terms of car performance today. I think, if we look at the classification, at least for the first five, it’s in competitiveness order. We tried to go for a podium with Lando, stopping early, making sure we stayed ahead of Carlos, but ultimately, we didn’t have the pace. It also meant that we found ourselves on a slightly slower strategy and we finished behind Leclerc. But we are happy that we are pushing for podium finishes even if today it was out of our grasp.

“On Oscar’s side, it was a busy race for him, always in direct competition with some cars around him. It was a little bit of a shame with the final lock-up at the chicane, which cost him the position to Russell, but it was important points for the team today, which consolidates the third position in the Championship. Now we refocus and we look ahead to China.”