Oscar Piastri showed McLaren can “hang on” after Suzuka breakthrough, says Karun Chandhok

Karun Chandhok believes McLaren’s strong Japanese Grand Prix showed the team has taken a major step forward and can stay in the fight

McLaren's "massive step forward" in performance during the Japanese Grand Prix proved that the Woking outfit has the pace to "hang on", according to former Formula 1 driver and Sky Sports analyst Karun Chandhok.

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris brought home a double-points finish for McLaren with a second and fifth-place finish, respectively. This came after a torrid start to the season for the Zak Brown-led team. The Japanese Grand Prix was the first race in 2026 that Piastri managed to start, and was Norris's second grand prix start.

"If you said they'd finish second and fifth, they would have probably gone, 'OK, that's pretty decent from where we're starting.' At the end of Lap 1, when they were first and third, I think they would have been hoping for more," Chandhok told Sky Sports F1 after the race.

"And as I said before, I think they've made good progress. I think Oscar showed that they had enough pace to hang on."

While McLaren has taken a step forward, Chandhok pointed to the pace of the dominant Mercedes. After the safety car, which was deployed after Oliver Bearman crashed into the barriers, returned to the pits, Kimi Antonelli gained roughly half a second per lap in clear air until the end of the race.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

"Look, when the safety car went away, we had 25 laps, and Antonelli in clear air made 13 seconds, so roughly half a second a lap, right?" Chandhok continued.

"That's where the Mercedes is in terms of race pace. But I don't know if that would have been enough to overtake him, because George didn't overtake him earlier on. Antonelli was quicker than George, maybe he could have had more of a go.

"But I think if they get track position, they're at least in that ballpark on tracks like this where they can hang on."