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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.
Others who were unable to progress to the top-10 shootout included Pierre Gasly in 11th for Alpine and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in 13th, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz was originally 12th – however a post-session three-place grid penalty will be applied for the Spaniard after he was judged to have impeded Hamilton in Q2.
The Kick Sauber pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto took P16 and P17 respectively, ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon in P18.
Jack Doohan, meanwhile, struggled to bounce back following his tricky weekend so far at Suzuka, the Alpine driver ending the session in 19th, while Lance Stroll rounded out the order down in 20th after an off-track moment in the Aston Martin
Hours on from the third and final practice session of the weekend – which saw the McLaren pair of Norris and Piastri lead the way – the attentions of the paddock had shifted to Qualifying in order to decide the grid for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The Haas pair of Bearman and Ocon led the pack out when the session got underway at 1500 local time, with the majority of the field bolting on the soft tyre for their initial runs – apart from Hamilton, who was sporting the medium compound for his banker lap.
That gamble did not look to have paid off for Ferrari, Hamilton’s lap proving to be some nine-tenths off the pace-setting time of Norris. Once all 20 drivers had recorded an early flying run, it was Piastri who sat at the top of the timesheets via his effort of 1m 28.143s, five-hundredths clear of Russell, while Norris, Verstappen and Leclerc completed the top five.
It was not all smooth sailing for Verstappen, the Dutchman reporting that his tyres were “not gripping” in the Red Bull. There was also trouble for Hadjar, with the Racing Bulls driver notifying his engineer that he was experiencing the “same issue” that had affected him in FP3, seemingly centering around his seat belts.
