Australian Oscar Piastri has secured his first-ever Formula 1 podium, securing third position in the Japanese Grand Prix after a chaotic race that saw five drivers fail to finish.

The feat was particularly impressive given it was Piastri’s first race at Suzuka, having already impressed with a brilliant P2 finish in qualifying on Saturday.

With it, Piastri became the first rookie to start on the front row since Lance Stroll in 2017 and made the most of his strong position in Sunday’s race.

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“It feels pretty special definitely. I will remember it for a very, very long time. I can’t thank the team enough for giving me this opportunity,” Piastri said after the race.

“There are not many people who get this opportunity in their whole life and I’ve managed to have it in my first season.

“It wasn’t my best race ever but it was enough to get a trophy at the end, so super happy.”

In the end though, neither Piastri nor McLaren teammate Lando Norris were able to keep up with runaway leader Max Verstappen, who took out the Japanese GP with ease.

With the win, Verstappen ensured Red Bull wrapped up the constructors’ championship early despite teammate Sergio Perez’s day coming to an early end.

Perez was one of five drivers who failed to finish, joined by Williams duo Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon along with Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas.

Red Bull only needed to outscore Mercedes on Sunday and not be outscored by Ferrari by 24 points.

Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell ended up finishing fourth and seventh respectively while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were in fourth and sixth.

Norris, of course, ended up rounding out the podium in second after Piastri let his teammate pass him on Lap 27.

With Verstappen taking a commanding lead, the McLaren duo were left in second and third to fight off their rivals behind them.

Piastri was initially passed at the beginning of the race after he was pushed over to the right by Verstappen.

The Australian later passed Norris after benefiting from a Virtual Safety Car, pitting right before it was announced and gaining a slight advantage as a result.

Norris though started to attack his teammate for second on Lap 26, eventually swapping positions the following lap.

“What’s he doing?” Norris asked, seemingly thinking Piastri was going to let him through at one point.

“The longer I spend behind now the harder you’re going to make the race for me,” Norris added.

On the following lap, while speaking with his race engineer, Norris explained he was “way quicker, just in the dirty air”.

It was just one intriguing moment in what was a chaotic opening to the Japanese Grand Prix.

In a frantic start, Verstappen shifted over to push Piastri to the right which in turn saw Norris pass him.

There was an early incident too involving Albon, Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, with a Safety Car deployed after debris was left on the track.

All three drivers pitted at the end of Lap 1, with Bottas suffering a puncture in the incident while Zhou had a damaged front wing.

Elsewhere, Perez and Hamilton also made wheel-to-wheel contact which saw the Mercedes driver forced onto the grass.

Perez, meanwhile, was forced to pit for a nosecone change in the aftermath of that contact with Hamilton.

The drama continued for Mercedes though as Hamilton and Russell almost collided, with the latter initially overtaking his teammate as they went into the final chicane on Lap 6.

Hamilton though was eventually able to re-take his spot in seventh on the straight, albeit after a close call as the pair came dangerously close to making contact.

Meanwhile, having already been involved in the earlier incident with Zhou and Albon, Bottas’ horror opening at Suzuka continued after he spun out following contact with Logan Sargeant.

“The car is undriveable,” Bottas lamented as he was forced to come into the pits and retire.

Elsewhere, Perez’s troubling opening to the race continued on Lap 12 — although in this occasion the Red Bull driver was clearly to blame.

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It came as Perez tried to overtake Kevin Magnussen down the inside of the hairpin, only to make contact as the Haas driver was sent spinning.

Perez, meanwhile, had to go back into the pits again for a second new nose and later became the second driver of the day to retire.

“In all the overtakes we’ve seen Sergio Perez pull off… that’s not going to make the top 200,” David Croft said in commentary.

A Virtual Safety Car was then called just as Piastri pitted in a boost for the Australian, although Sky Sports F1’s Bernie Collins said in commentary that the 22-year-old did not take full advantage.

According to Collins, the track was still green as Piastri came into his pit box but it was still good news for the Australian nonetheless as he later passed his teammate Norris, who had to pit for a set of hard tyres.

“It’s a free stop, under the Virtual Safety Car. Brilliant news for McLaren fans and Oscar Piastri fans,” Croft said.

“That’s good news for Piastri,” added Anthony Davidson.

While it was good news for Piastri, the McLaren duo still had a fight on their hands to be any hope of tracking down runaway leader Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver pitted for the first time in the race on Lap 17 and re-joined in fifth place before quickly regaining his lead ahead of Russell, who was yet to pit at that point.

Speaking of Russell, he and Mercedes teammate Hamilton clashed again on Lap 16.

“Are we fighting each other or the others?” asked Russell on the radio.

There was more drama later in the race too, with Russell ordered to invert positions as Hamilton tried to fight off a fast-approaching Sainz behind him.

Russell questioned the decision but was told it was “an instruction” and later complied, although he was not necessarily pleased to do so.

“If you want to play the team game, he pushed me off the track earlier, it’s the least he can do,” Russell said.

Hamilton was later told to give Russell DRS to help him defend against Sainz but that plan backfired, with the Ferrari driver overtaking him on Lap 51.

In the end Russell would have to settle for seventh, with Hamilton finishing in fourth.

JAPANESE GP RESULTS

1: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

2: Lando Norris (McLaren)

3: Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

4: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

5: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

6: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

7: George Russell (Mercedes)

8: Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

9: Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

10: Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

11: Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri)

12: Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)

13: Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)

14: Nico Hulkenburg (Haas)

15: Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

DNF: Alexander Albon (Williams)

DNF: Logan Sargeant (Williams)

DNF: Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

DNF: Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

DNF: Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)