Happy McLaren boss offers to fly Piastri's mum to Japan

SUZUKA, Japan : McLaren Formula One boss Zak Brown offered to fly Oscar Piastri's mother to Japan after the Australian rookie driver put his car on the front row of the starting grid for Sunday's race at Suzuka.

The 22-year-old had also qualified on the front row for the Belgian GP sprint in July but Japan will be the first time Piastri has started a full grand prix from that position.

"I'm very happy to buy her an airline ticket," Brown told Sky Sports television after Nicole Piastri responded to a jubilant McLaren social media post with the words "anyone got a cheap flight to Japan?"

"So if you can get here Mrs Piastri, we want to see you tomorrow," he added.

Nicole has acquired quite a following on X, formerly Twitter, for her joking comments on Oscar's career.

"What!! So we are doing this for another 3 years???," she exclaimed this week when McLaren announced her son's contract extension to 2026.

Saturday's qualifying, with Lando Norris third and Red Bull's championship leader Max Verstappen on pole, continued McLaren's remarkable turnaround after a poor start to the campaign.

From struggling to score points, McLaren are now looking quicker than engine provider Mercedes, even if well behind in the standings. Norris has scored three second places in the last six races.

"He's driving great," Brown said of Piastri. "It's exactly why we signed him up for another three years. I think our driver pairing is awesome.

"The team is really gelling, Andrea (Stella)'s leadership has been fantastic and everyone's doing a first class job and the results are coming.

"It would be nice to get a car or two ahead of Max at the start and give him a bit of a race. I think we can definitely end up with a couple of cars on the podium."

Piastri had