Max Verstappen has taken his first pole position since the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix as he goes fastest around Suzuka.
Q1
Jack Doohan had been involved in a big crash in FP2, leaving him without much time to get back up to speed ahead of qualifying. While the Australian did his best to stay competitive, he was unable to make it out of Q1.
Doohan’s teammate however was able to show the pace of the Alpine, managing to climb to 9th place in Q1.
Kick Sauber were the only team to have both of their drivers eliminated in Q1, with Doohan’s and Stroll’s teammates managing to make it to Q2, while Ocon’s teammate Ollie Bearman managed to make it all the way to Q3.
ELIMINATED
16. Nico Hulkenberg – Kick Sauber +0.016
17. Gabriel Bortoleto – Kick Sauber +0.068
18. Esteban Ocon – Haas +0.142
19. Jack Doohan – Alpine +0.323
20. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.717
Q2
The big news heading into the weekend was Red Bull’s decision to swap Liam Lawson for Yuki Tsunoda after the former started the first two rounds of the season in poor form, qualifying 20th in both Australia and China.
Both drivers managed to escape elimination in Q1, but they each managed to falter in Q2, going 14th and 15th fastest, with Lawson the faster of the two. This will have been a bit of a blow for Tsunoda at his home race, who had been relatively close to Verstappen for much of the weekend up to this point.
However, both Lawson and Tsunoda will start the grand prix tomorrow one position higher up after Carlos Sainz, who was also knocked out in Q2, was given a three place grid penalty for impeding Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton.
ELIMINATED
11. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.039
12. Carlos Sainz – Williams +0.053 (3 PLACE GRID PENALTY)
13. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.114
14. Liam Lawson – Racing Bulls +0.123
15. Yuki Tsunoda – Red Bull +0.217
Q3
Qualifying in Suzuka initially looked as though it would follow the same formula as the first two rounds of the season, with McLaren looking mighty quick. Oscar Piastri had initially taken provisional pole, with teammate Lando Norris having a scruffy lap, which initially put him 5th place, with Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell separating the two papaya cars.
However, Norris was a lot tidier on his final flying lap, initially shooting up to the top of the timing sheets. This would only last for a short bit of time though, as Max Verstappen was able to put an incredible lap together to score his fourth consecutive pole in Japan.
Piastri had a poor first sector which dropped about three tenths of a second, though was able to claw back most of that back throughout the rest of the lap, but it wasn’t enough, as he went just 44 thousandths of a second slower than Verstappen.
This actually left Piastri in third place, as the gap between Verstappen and Norris was just 12 thousandths of a second, making for an incredibly close fight for the win at tomorrow’s grand prix.
Qualifying results
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:26.983
2. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.012
3. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.044
4.Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.316
5. George Russell – Mercedes +0.335
6. Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes +0.572
7. Isack Hadjar – Racing Bulls +0.586
8. Lewis Hamilton – Ferrari +0.627
9. Alex Albon – Williams +0.632
10. Ollie Bearman – Haas +0.884
