Red Bull’s Max Verstappen put in a stunning performance to set pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was a massive 0.581 seconds clear of the impressive Oscar Piastri in second, 0.035secs ahead of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who was 0.773secs slower than Verstappen.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was sixth, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda earned a cheer from the local fans with ninth place, ahead of the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
Verstappen came to Suzuka expecting to return to form after his record run of 10 consecutive victories was ended in Singapore, as well as Red Bull’s clean sweep of the season so far.
His rivals said that, everything being normal, Red Bull would dominate in Japan, and so it has proved.
The 25-year-old topped all three practice sessions and all three parts of qualifying. He will surely take his 13th victory in 16 races on Sunday if he has a problem-free race.
“Incredible weekend so far and especially in qualifying when you can really push it to the limit, the car felt really nice,” Verstappen said.
“We had a bad weekend in Singapore but I already felt from the preparation we had that this was going to be a good track.
“You never know how good it is going to be but from lap one it has felt really nice and to be on pole is fantastic.” (BBC Sport)
