Max Verstappen surprised McLaren by taking the pole position at the Japan Grand Prix with his new track record at Suzuka Circuit.
Verstappen had dropped by more than 0.2 seconds in the tentative pole time of the Oscar Piastri after the first run of the Q3, but was caught in the top spot to the rocket on the final lap of 1 inch.
“That’s insane,” his engineer, Jean Piero Lambiers, told him to the screams of excitement in the cockpit.
His final lap at 1M 26.983 set the record for Suzuka, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s previous benchmark from 2019.081 seconds.
The Dutch have not expected to compete for the pole and have said they need to put everything on the line to seal the deal.
“The last lap was just flat,” he said. “It’s incredibly rewarding that this area is at its limit or just past the place.
“We tried our best to balance the car the best possible, but that wasn’t easy.
“A session that we’ve only kept improving, and I think that’s where we made a difference.”
Norris was slow on the first lap, leaving him behind by Piastri over half a second, but he rebounded strongly in the purple first sector to second place on the grid, with Paul missing just 0.012 seconds.
“I’m happy because I feel like I’ve got everything out of the car today,” he said. ” small.
“Did you have that a lot? Yes, Max did a great rap.”
Piastri lamented that despite finishing the third quarter with purple times in the second and third sectors, he was unable to hold the interim pole after the poor first part sector in his final attempt.
“It feels good through most of the qualifications, especially at the start of the third quarter,” he said. “Rap wasn’t getting together like I wanted.
“I think it’s all about playing for tomorrow. There’s a little fantastic car left at the table today.”
Charles Leclerc led the way to Ferrari in fourth, with Monegascu’s driver moving away from the 0.316S pace.
Mercedes dreamed of competing in the front row after practice on Friday before finishing fifth and sixth with George Russell and Andrea Kimmi Antonelli. Russell was 0.335 seconds off the pace, while Antonelli was another 0.237 seconds.
Isack Hadjar overcomes what appears to be a seat belt problem and earns it all the way up to Q3, completing the top 10 with an impressive seventh qualification from Racing Bulls, the best Red Bull-backed driver behind Verstappen.
Pierre Guthrie missed 0.039 seconds in the first quarter and placed 11th on the grid before Williams driver Carlos Sign.
Liam Lawson starts off with his first race back with the Racing Bulls, starting with a season-high 14th place.
Tsunoda failed to improve in the first quarter, which resulted in a slower 0.498 than Lawson’s teammate Verstappen, tied to Q3.
The Japanese star and his team are sent in a soft, one flying lap later in the second quarter after a grass fire sent all the drivers back to the garage in just eight minutes to the clock. However, it was the closest teammates reached Verstappen all season, and the result of the best qualifications for the second Red Bull car.
Nico Furkenberg came in 16th place after being knocked out of the first quarter in just 0.016 seconds. He led his teammate Gabriel Boltreto with a similarly thin 0.052S.
Esteban Ocon blew the final lap out of 18th for Haas before Jacques Dohan, who couldn’t improve on the final lap, and slid into gravel from the road, providing power towards Dunlop.
