Max Verstappen takes a surprising pole position for Red Bull at Suzuka, beating the favourites McLaren in an exciting end to qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix.
A special white livery to celebrate Honda looks beautiful and it was pure Super Max to set a new lap record around the challenging Suzuka circuit. It was a shock to see Verstappen in P1 as the Red Bull RB21 is tricky to drive and not as quick as the McLaren MCL39.
Championship leader Lando Norris is second quickest and will join his good friend Max on the front row. The McLaren driver is ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri.
Norris and Piastri had been setting the pace during practice, but it was Verstappen who delivered when it mattered, putting in a new track record of one minute, 26.983 seconds to secure his fourth successive Suzuka pole.
Early championship leader Norris will start alongside the defending champion having been pipped by just 0.012 seconds, while Chinese Grand Prix winner Piastri is third alongside Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Before Verstappen’s fine effort, it was Mercedes that had been worrying the McLaren duo but George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli could only make the third row.
There had been plenty of talk about Red Bull’s decision to switch Liam Lawson with Yuki Tsunoda heading to Japan but neither made it into Q3, instead it was the Racing Bull of Isack Hadjar who impressed to go seventh fastest, despite reporting a cockpit issue during the opening session.
Lewis Hamilton will be disappointed to have only managed eighth, ahead of the Williams of Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman, the Haas driver making it three rookies in the top ten.
Once again, the hour-long session descended into farce when a fifth red flag of the weekend for a trackside grass fire caused delays in Q2.
After the latest incident had been dealt with, there was plenty of improvement across the board, meaning both Lawson and Tsunoda were eliminated.
Lawson will start a place ahead of his Red Bull replacement having gone P14 on his return to Racing Bulls, while Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso also unable to make the top ten shootout.
Lawson eked out of Q1 in P15, just 0.016 seconds faster than the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg, whose teammate Gabriel Bortoleto was also eliminated.
Esteban Ocon, having finished fifth last time out in China, had to settle for P18 on the grid this time around having been unable to match the pace of Bearman.
Lance Stroll suffered a miserable session, running off at Dunlop Curve when on a fast lap and will start at the back, with the rebuilt Alpine of Jack Doohan alongside him after his huge crash in FP2.
Post qualifying, the stewards handed a three-place grid penalty for Carlos Sainz as the Williams driver was found to impeding Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton in Q2. Sainz initially was P12 after qualifying but will start the race in P15.
So congratulations to Max Verstappen by snatching pole positions from the McLarens. It was a thrilling lap to go quickest as the RB21 looks so tricky to drive over the MCL39. Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are still the favourites and yet despite missing out on P1, the race pace is still solid. Bring on the Japanese Grand Prix racing action!
Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:26.983
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:26.995
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:27.027
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27.299
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:27.318
6 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:27.555
7 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:27.569
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:27.610
9 Alexander Albon Williams 1:27.615
10 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:27.867
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:27.822
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:27.897
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:27.906
14 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:28.000
15 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:27.836*
16 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:28.570
17 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:28.622
18 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:28.696
19 Jack Doohan Alpine 1:28.877
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:29.271
*Three-place grid penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton during Q2