Max Verstappen will start on pole in Suzuka as he picked up where he left off after the blip of Singapore!
Verstappen’s dominance was evident right from the start, as he consistently set the pace during all three practice sessions. His Q1 time of 1:29.878 left even his teammate, Sergio Perez, trailing by a significant eight tenths of a second on their first runs.
Lando Norris from McLaren was a strong competitor and came close to Verstappen, finishing just two tenths of a second behind. McLaren’s great performance in the practice sessions continued into qualifying, indicating that they could be the strongest competition for Red Bull on Sunday.
The Final Qualifying Standings
In the end, it was a commanding performance by Max Verstappen, securing pole position with a time of 1:28.877. Oscar Piastri of McLaren earned a well-deserved second place, trailing by 0.581 seconds. Lando Norris, another McLaren driver, completed the top three.
- Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull) – 1:28.877
- Oscar PIASTRI (McLaren) – +0.581
- Lando NORRIS (McLaren) – +0.616
- Charles LECLERC (Ferrari) – +0.665
- Sergio PEREZ (Red Bull) – +0.773
- Carlos SAINZ (Ferrari) – +0.973
- Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes) – +1.031
- George RUSSELL (Mercedes) – +1.342
- Yuki TSUNODA (AlphaTauri) – +1.426
- Fernando ALONSO (Aston Martin) – +1.683
