Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing.
Image: Backpagepix
Max Verstappen proved why he is in contention for a fifth straight World Title after shattering the lap record at Suzuka to start the Japanese Grand Prix in pole.
The four time champion was elated after finding out he took pole position, even choking up a bit on the radio with Christian Horner afterwards.
Horner said it was not expected but Verstappen did well to extract every “bit of performance out of the car”.
“Getting that pole was completely against the run of form we have been seeing,” Horner said.
“He left nothing on the table. That was one of his best laps ever in qualifying,” Horner added.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was the fastest through Q3, with Verstappen behind him and Charles Leclerc in P3 after the first lap. George Russell ran fourth, with Norris behind him with Hamilton in P6 after lap one.
Piastri set a fastest lap record around Suzuka during the first lap of Q3 at 1:27:052 , beating Sebastian Vettel's record.
Lando Norris broke Piasfacetri’s record shortly after with a 1:26:995.
Immediately after Verstappen took pole position and claimed his fourth consecutive pole at Suzuka with a blistering lap of 1:26:983.
An absolute peace of a final sector through the final sector set him ahead of Norris in a difficult RB21.
It was Verstappen’s 44th pole position. Verstappen went with less downforce than Tsunoda and went for more top speed which clearly worked in his favour.
Racing Bulls Liam Lawson made the cut in first qualifying, putting himself in the top 15 to fight another round of qualifying. The McLaren’s were fastest through Q1 with George Russell close behind them followed by Max Verstappen.
Two grass fires put a damper on the spirits during qualifying. Sparks from the cars were blowing onto the dry grass and catching fire easily.
Yuki Tsunoda could not get into the top 10 fastest but his Racing Bulls team mates Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson finished faster than Tsunoda.
Tsunoda finished a little bit disappointed and will start the race in P15 on Sunday, behind Lawson in P14.
Tsunoda was fighting the RB21, which was fitted with a larger front and rear wing for a bit of added downforce. But the modification seemed to have worked against Tsunoda, who was seen pushing and pulling the steering around several turns. The downforce will be helpful in the long run saving tyres for Tsunoda but it comes at the expense of straight line speed.