Max Verstappen has beaten his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by six hundredths to take pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix. The Dutchman was one of a handful of drivers to improve on his final attempt as the threat from Ferrari never managed to materialise.
Verstappen had looked strong all weekend bouncing back from his retirement in Melbourne, but his teammate was closer than he was six months ago at Suzuka. The three time champion has started the season and his quest for a fourth consecutive title with four poles in four races. Red Bull remains a dominant force though Lando Norris was four-tenths off Verstappen, after Verstappen and Perez managed to improve on their final attempt.
However, Perez produced one of his best qualifying laps for a long time to come up just short of his team-mate’s pole time on the second run, before Verstappen marginally improved himself to ensure he had two times good enough for top spot.
The fact that the front-row lockout is Red Bull’s first since last year’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix highlights how rarely Perez has been able to maximise his car’s performance in qualifying but boosts the Mexican’s hopes of earning an extension to a contract that expires at the end of the year.
Having seen a nine-race winning streak end as a brake failure caused him to retire in Australia two weeks ago, Verstappen has appeared to be on a mission to restore his dominance at a track he has won at for each of the last two years. He had topped both FP1 and FP3 in the dry, then threw the gauntlet down on his first run in Q3 going a quarter of a second faster than Norris.
Verstappen said he felt it had not been this greatest lap, adding: “It was quite close at the end. This track is very sensitive with the tyre with the Tarmac being aggressive, and when you really want to go to the limit, it doesn’t always work out. It is good to be on pole, a good starting position for tomorrow, and tomorrow is what counts.”
Perez said: “It was really close with Max. It felt like a good lap. It was quite tricky there, especially closing the laps it was easy to lose a couple of tenths in the last sector. We have been really close all weekend and when you are in that, little margins… anything can make a difference.”
Red Bull will be in pole position to win the race, the winner has only not come from the front row three times since 1991. Verstappen goes into the race four points clear of Leclerc in the drivers’ standings with Perez, a point further back, well placed to, at the very least, reclaim second from the Ferrari driver.
McLaren six months ago were Red Bull’s closest challengers with a double podium, they have once again showed the continuing steps forwards Norris is optimistic that he could repeat that in the race.
Carlos Sainz put his Ferrari fourth, the Melbourne winner couldn’t unlock the same performances as he did down under as he was six-tenths behind the Dutchman. But he did go just four thousandths faster than his fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso.
Sainz will be hoping that Ferrari’s improved race performance can see him fight Verstappen, his performance did put the Italian manufacturer closer than they were six months ago.
Aston Martin has brought a major upgrade for this weekend with a major floor upgrade, but he appeared to slip back as qualifying progressed. He was second in Q1 but in the final part of qualifying he was only seventh, encouraged by his engineer to try to find the extra tenth and a half, that separated him from a place in the top four at the time.
Alonso said, “I don’t know what to do to go faster; it felt like a good lap.” He found a nearly the same improvements as Ferrari, to spilt Sainz and Oscar Piastri in sixth as he went six thousandths faster than Lewis Hamilton. While Mercedes have looked at their most competitive this season, the tight battle behind Red Bull doesn’t show the performance.
The seven-time champion two hundredths faster than his future teammate Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver was left perplexed after going a tenth behind teammate Sainz, he has normally been the faster driver, but this season has struggled to match his current teammate.
Leclerc ended up over half a second down on Verstappen’s time, but did edge George Russell by two-tenths with Yuki Tsunoda rounding the top ten. The Monacan looking a bit unsettled as in Q1 he was in the mid-pack forcing him to use an extra set of soft tyres to keep himself safe.
The seven-time world champion’s Mercedes team continued to underwhelm as the Silver Arrows dropped backwards having taken third and fourth behind the Red Bulls in final practice. Hamilton had a clear edge over team-mate Russell as he finished more than two tenths faster and was positive about the result having finished less than a tenth back from Sainz in fourth.
Tsunoda’s improvement at the end of Q2 knocked out his RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo, to the delight of the fans he went was over half a tenth quicker than the Australian. Sainz has been more impressive this season and Leclerc said after qualifying: “That’s the best I can do. Honestly, I don’t get it.”
Nico Hulkenberg was eleventh two hundredths behind Ricciardo, but he lost his first attempt and that left him out of qualifying. The Haas driver going a tenth faster than Valtteri Bottas, the Finn last moment improvement saw him get into Q2 knocking out Lance Stroll.
Alex Albon only managed one run in Q2 that left him fourteenth just over a tenth behind Bottas and ahead of Esteban Ocon. Albon just hung on to progress to the second part of qualifying, as Bottas knocked out Lance Stroll. Pierre Gasly was seventeenth ahead of Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant with Guanyu Zhou completing the field.
Albon, Russell and Piastri face post-qualifying investigations, Albon for possibly going too slowly at one stage late in Q1, with the Mercedes fined €5,000 for releasing Russell’s car was into Piastri’s path when they exited the pits at the start of the session.
