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
Max Verstappen stormed to a surprise pole position in Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, the World Champion surging to P1 in the final moments to displace the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
After Piastri and Norris set the pace during Q1 and Q2 respectively, the trend initially looked to have continued into the top-10 shootout, with Piastri provisionally going fastest during the first runs.
Norris then seemed to have secured pole as the final laps went on the board – before Verstappen surged through to go fastest of all on a 1m 26.983s, the Red Bull driver beating Norris by just 0.012s while Piastri had to settle for third.
Charles Leclerc led Ferrari’s charge in P4, with George Russell in P5 for Mercedes following a messy moment on his flying lap. Fellow Silver Arrows driver Kimi Antonelli took P6 and another rookie, Isack Hadjar, was an impressive P7 for Racing Bulls.
Lewis Hamilton claimed eighth place in the Ferrari, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon and the Haas of Ollie Bearman in ninth and 10th respectively.
The big news from Q2 was the exit of Yuki Tsunoda in P15 during his debut Qualifying for Red Bull, the Japanese driver placing behind Liam Lawson – the man he replaced – who took P14 for Racing Bulls.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/verstappen-clinches-stunning-pole-position-ahead-of-norris-and-piastri-in.2r7tZSVLE1Uz9X8bVk4vQB
Max Verstappen has said Red Bull has not fixed its troublesome Formula 1 car despite taking a stunning Japanese Grand Prix pole that he called one of his finest career laps.
The four-time world champion was bidding for his fourth consecutive pole at Suzuka, but balance issues with his 2025 Red Bull car combined with McLaren’s dominant form looked set to end that streak.
But after not making much of an impact throughout qualifying, Verstappen suddenly pulled a stunning final Q3 lap out of the bag to defeat Lando Norris by 0.012 seconds and Oscar Piastri by 0.044s, his pole lap of 1m26.983s half a second quicker than he had managed in Q2.
Verstappen roared in jubilation on his team radio after his surprise pole and hailed it as one of his best ever laps in an F1 car.
“There was a lot of happiness when I crossed the line,” the Dutchman said. “We just tried to keep improving our situation a bit. I was fully committed everywhere.
“I’ve had some really nice poles in other places but if you look at how our season started it was a surprise and that makes it a very special one.
On the exit of Turn 1 into 2, six, seven, eight and then Spoon it was like: “Well I hope it’s going to stick’. But it did and when I crossed the line I could see my name pop up.
“I also knew that Oscar was still behind me, but I was already just very happy with what I did there because I didn’t expect to be even close, so that was a nice moment.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-red-bull-hasnt-solved-f1-car-woes-despite-special-japan-gp-pole/10710071/
Max Verstappen delivered what Red Bull team principal Christian Horner described as “one of his best laps in qualifying, ever.” He secured a surprising pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix with a lap time of 1:26.983, edging out the McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
With the struggles the Milton Keynes team has seen so far this season, this will be a good day for Verstappen’s side of the garage.
The RB21 has suffered from fundamental issues so far this season, with all three(!) of its drivers complaining of its exceptionally narrow operating window. As we’ve seen today, the car hides exceptional potential, but this is hidden behind a wall of complexity and unreliable performance.
I mean, we did not expect that,” Horner told Sky Sports F1. “And, you know, Max – I mean, what can you say? Just outstanding, outstanding… like he’s extracted every ounce of performance. And, you know, he and his engineering team, they were working on the preparation, getting the tyres in the right window.
“And I think he’s got the most out of it today. And getting that pole position was completely against the run of form that we’ve been seeing. So, a massive result for him and, you know, a big lift for the team.”
He continued, revealing the lengths that Verstappen’s side of the garage went to in a bid for a strong run.
“We have turned the car upside down this weekend. In set-up, we’ve been round the houses with it and Max and his team have done a great job. Just getting the car into the right window and getting the tyres in the right place, just putting everything together.
“I think the McLarens – if they’d have put their laps together on the theoreticals – they’re half a tenth quicker. But they didn’t get that together. Then with Max – he left nothing on the table. That was one of his best laps, I think, in, you know, in qualifying ever.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-turned-the-car-upside-down-to-help-verstappen-deliver-best-lap/10710127/
Lando Norris qualified second for the Japanese Grand Prix behind four-time champion Max Verstappen, who secured pole position. The McLaren driver congratulated Verstappen for overcoming the recent issues on the Red Bull RB21, but he’s ready to fight his rival for the first corner.
McLaren has been strong all weekend, with both Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastri going fastest in each practice session.
“I’m happy. Congrats to Max. He did a good job, so hats off to him. You have to credit something when it’s a lap that good that he must have done,” Norris explained to Sky Sports on the live broadcast.
feel I got everything out of the car. Just a tiny [margin] but Max did an amazing lap.
“For both of us [McLaren drivers] to be up there is good, but it’s not enough.”
Noting the mistakes on his first flying lap in Q3, he added:
“I dipped a wheel on the exit of Turn 7, so just a couple of little mistakes and it shows how easy it is to lose lap time.
“My [last] lap was very good. If I were to go again, I probably wouldn’t go as quick as I did.
“I feel like we were on the limit of what we had, we just didn’t have enough today.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/lando-norris-ready-to-fight-max-verstappen-ive-been-there-before/10710047/
A frustrated Yuki Tsunoda conceded that “everything got worse and worse” during a disappointing Qualifying debut for Red Bull at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Tsunoda failed to escape Q2 at Suzuka in P15 spot and was outqualified by Liam Lawson, the driver he replaced at Red Bull, with the now Racing Bulls man finishing a place ahead in P14.
However, following Carlos Sainz’s three-place grid penalty, both Tsunoda and Lawson have been promoted up the order and will start in P14 and P13 respectively for Sunday’s race.
Running a higher downforce set up than team mate and pole-winner Max Verstappen, Tsunoda conceded he was still getting to grips with the RB21.
“I think the warmup didn’t go as I wanted. I’m still learning,” he conceded when asked what had happened on his final lap of Qualifying.
“The warmup, how it ended up, I thought it was ok. I knew it was maybe going to be a bit compromised, but the penalty was pretty big.
“It’s a shame that I wasn’t able to extract the performance from the car. It was looking good from Q1 and it just felt that overall, everything got worse and worse throughout. A great shame.
“The confidence in the car at least feels good now, it’s just that I wasn’t able to put it all together today. Very sad.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/everything-got-worse-and-worse-throughout-tsunoda-reflects-on-tough.2nd6QkfDDrdfc21fudWBXN
Carlos Sainz has been issued with a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton during Q2 of Saturday’s Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, meaning that the Spaniard will drop from P12 to P15.
Hamilton was on a push lap during the session when he encountered a slow-moving Sainz in Turn 1 on his in-lap, leading to the seven-time World Champion voicing his annoyance over the radio after having to go off track to avoid the Williams.
The matter was referred to the stewards to be investigated after Qualifying and, after a hearing was held, it was confirmed that Sainz would drop three grid positions at the next race in which he participates – that being Sunday’s event at the Suzuka Circuit.
A document released following the hearing – in which the stewards heard from Sainz and team representatives as well as reviewing the data, video and radio evidence – states: “The driver of Car 55 stated that he did not have any warning from the team, of the approach of Car 44 on a push lap.
“He stated that he was caught completely by surprise and because of the approach speed of Car 44, and the angle of his car, he could not see Car 44 in his mirrors.
“However notwithstanding the above, the team had ample warning that Car 44 was on an out lap whilst Car 55 was on its push lap. Also, more than 8 seconds elapsed from when it was obvious Car 44 was not going into the pits, and hence was going to start a push lap, and when Car 55 could have taken appropriate action if the driver had been warned by the team.
“It is noted that the standard penalty guideline for this offence during Qualifying, irrespective of whether it was the fault of the driver or the team, is a 3 grid position penalty, and therefore the Stewards find that the standard penalty should be applied.”
With Sainz having initially exited in Q2 – ending the session in 12th place – he will now drop down to 15th, which will in turn promote Fernando Alonso, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda up into P12, P13 and P14 respectively.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/breaking-sainz-hit-with-three-place-grid-penalty-over-hamilton-incident.79hjAxd1KtHAKGIl9uu45O