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Max Verstappen, once again untouchable and titanic on the Suzuka circuit, secured his 36th pole position.
Q1: Williams into the wall, Aston and Lance see the exit
After shining in all three practice sessions of the Japanese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen continued his dominance by setting the fastest time in under 90 seconds on the first weekend lap, clocking at 1’29”878, leaving the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri behind him.
Midway through the session, only thirteen drivers had managed to set a time, when Logan Sargeant lost control of his Williams in the final corner, resulting in its demolition. The Ferraris still had to complete a lap without being obstructed. Shortly after the restart, Charles Leclerc climbed to third place and Carlos Sainz to fifth.
With three minutes left in the session, the five drivers in danger of elimination were those who hadn’t yet set a time: Nico Hülkenberg, Logan Sargeant, Pierre Gasly, Alexander Albon, and Valtteri Bottas. Lance Stroll, the 15th and slowest, had to be wary.
Eventually, the Aston Martin driver was eliminated, finishing 17th, along with the Alfa Romeos and Nico Hülkenberg’s Haas. Zhou Guanyu expressed his frustration with traffic, having to venture onto the grass at the Degner exit. Meanwhile, Liam Lawson stood out by placing fourth.
It is worth noting that Leclerc, Zhou, and Bottas are under investigation by the stewards for not respecting the maximum time on a slow lap.
Eliminated in Q1: Bottas, Stroll, Hülkenberg, Zhou, and Sargeant
Q2: Mercedes struggles, Alpine tries
Outside the top 10, the Aston Martin, driven by Fernando Alonso, was fighting, trailing by six hundredths compared to Lawson’s tenth place. Behind him were Esteban Ocon, Gasly (experiencing unusual sensations in his cockpit), Albon, and Kevin Magnussen.
Albon rose to seventh position less than four minutes from the end, pushing Lawson into the drop zone and putting Mercedes in difficulty in ninth and tenth places. The New Zealand rookie driver did not disappoint, finishing 11th, just 43 milliseconds behind Alonso, closely followed by Gasly, Albon, Ocon, and Magnussen.
With Verstappen staying in the pits at the end of the session, it was Leclerc who set the fastest time in 1’29”940, with Pérez taking third place just a thousandth of a second behind his teammate. Yuki Tsunoda also made a strong impression with the seventh-best time.
Eliminated in Q2: Lawson, Gasly, Albon, Ocon, and Magnussen
Q3: Red Bull on top
Verstappen made a sensation right from the start of his Q3 by setting a time nearly a second faster than in the previous session: 1’29”012! The Red Bull driver had a comfortable lead of about half a second over the McLarens of Piastri and Norris. Pérez, Hamilton, and Tsunoda were significantly behind, with worn tires.
Between the two runs, it was Russell and Alonso who took to the track with new tires, but without success, showing respective deficits of 1”2 and 1”5 to Verstappen. And to add to his feat, the Dutchman further improved his time by signing an incredible 1’28”877 to secure pole position with a lead of over half a second over Piastri and Norris. Leclerc took fourth place, ahead of a disappointing Pérez. The top 10 were completed by Sainz, Hamilton, Russell, Tsunoda, and Alonso.
Starting grid (Top 10 in points) after the decision of the FIA commission: Verstappen, Perez, Norris, Sainz, Alonso, Piastri, Hamilton, Leclerc, Russell, and Tsunoda
