Verstappen snatches Suzuka Pole in Honda send-off

Shocking not only McLaren but himself as well, Max Verstappen put a near-perfect lap together to snatch Pole Position from Lando Norris — the perfect tribute to mark the final Japanese Grand Prix of the Red Bull-Honda era.

Qualifying 1:

Lining up at the end of the pitlane, the drivers were unleashed onto the iconic Suzuka International Circuit to kick off an exciting hour of qualifying contest.

Tasked with weaving his way through the out-lap traffic, Jack Doohan was one of the first drivers to launch during Q1. 

He set a time of 1:29.803s, a lap that ultimately left him at the very bottom of the order once the entire grid’s initial runs were completed. 

The Australian set a personal best sector to open his final lap, flying by the scene of his brutal FP3 crash before failing to improve in the middle sector and becoming one of many drivers to lose out.

As a result, Doohan couldn’t boost himself beyond the bottom five, leaving himself with a difficult task on Sunday as he looks to launch from P19.

Both Racing Bulls took a cautious approach at the start of Q1, remaining in the garage for an additional seven minutes before putting a time on the board. 

When Liam Lawson eventually rounded the final turn, he put his VCARB 02 into ninth place, however, running out of sync with the rest of the field, the Kiwi was forced to settle for an at-risk P16.

Needing to improve on his last Q1 attempt, Lawson was one of the last drivers to launch, making it a nervous wait in the RB garage before he managed to just scrape through in a risky P15.

Setting the early Q1 benchmark, Lando Norris picked up where he left off in FP3 as he collected fastest sectors across the entire lap before his teammate outpaced him.

Not quite able to match his teammate in the primary stages of the lap, Oscar Piastri recovered through the middle and final sectors to record a time of 1:27.687s, boosting him into P1 ahead of his teammate. 

The Australian gradually dropped down to P3, however, on his final attempt, reclaimed the fastest time of the 18-minute session.

Splitting the McLaren duo early on, George Russell impressed on his initial flying lap as he fell just 58 milliseconds short of the top time.

On the field’s second attempt, Norris reclaimed P1, however, this time with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc perching himself in between the papaya cars. 

In the elimination zone, Isack Hadjar was having a nightmare start to his session, with his presumed seatbelt complications from FP3 carrying over to Q1. 

As a result, the RB driver was called back into his garage for a lap-belt adjustment, apologising to his team after admitting the discomfort issue was causing him to lose focus and time on track.

Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Antonelli and Lance Stroll were also circulating as the drivers at risk, with all barring the #18 launching for their last-ditch attempts and successfully securing a place in Q2.

Replacing them in the knockout zone were the two Sauber cars who will start from P16 and P17, ahead of Esteban Ocon, Doohan and Stroll.

Qualifying 2:

Waiting patiently at the pit exit, Max Verstappen was the first driver out of the gates when the light went green to start Q2. 

The on-track position didn’t translate onto the timing sheets for the Dutchman, with Lando Norris lighting up the circuit with three purple sectors.

His time of 1:27.146s sat over three-tenths in the clear, while Piastri, running on fresh soft tyres made an error at the second Degner which left the Australian in P4.

Alex Albon impressed by setting the fifth fastest time, excelling through Turn 11 to aid the Williams driver in outpacing both Ferraris.

Looking to recover, the Ferrari duo were looking to recover when the sixth Red Flag of the weekend hit, brought on by yet another grass fire at Suzuka.

The session restarted with eight minutes on the clock, with Carlos Sainz, Alonso, Ollie Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda and Lawson as the drivers in the elimination zone.

The Ferrari duo were the only cars to leave the pitlane when the light went green, hoping to improve from a risky P6 and P7.

The opening sector was poor for Lewis Hamilton who had a snap of oversteer and a slow-moving Sainz in his way, with his teammate also declaring his S1 “rubbish” as they teammates slotted into P4 and P5.

With five minutes remaining, the rest of the field made their way out on track, with the home hero included. 

The opening sector was a letdown for Tsunoda thanks to overcorrections at Turn 2, and despite setting two personal best sectors to round out the 5.8km lap, it wasn’t enough to advance to the top ten shootout. 

What originally was P11 soon became P15 for the newly promoted Red Bull driver, with Lawson celebrating the mini victory of out-qualifying Tsunoda by 0.094s. 

The two topical drivers will line up alongside one another to start the Japanese Grand Prix, with the former teammates now forced to tussle for position into the high-speed first corner. 

Both drivers’ current teammates managed to make it through to the top ten shootout, with Isack Hadjar just scraping through alongside fellow rookies Bearman and Antonelli. 

Not sharing the same luck, Pierre Gasly was knocked out in P11, ahead of Sainz who remains under investigation for impeding Hamilton, and Alonso.

Qualifying 3:

Ready to take on his first Q3 session of the season, Bearman sat alone at the pit exit before leading the final charge on track.

He was the first to launch around the lap, setting a solid lap by Haas’ standards, however, falling short of the top four teams as they completed their banker laps.

Putting his best foot forward on his mission to secure his second-ever Pole Position, Piastri secured the provisional top spot with a time of 1:27.052s.

The top four was made up of four different constructors, with Max Verstappen being the closest threat for Pole, however, still at a two-tenth deficit.

In third, Leclerc looked uneasy, and that proved to be the case for both Ferrari drivers when they launched for their final attempts.

Already sitting at the back end of the order, Hamilton made a costly error in the middle sector that left him four-tenths down and condemned to start tomorrow’s 53-lap race from P8, ahead of only Albon and Bearman. 

The seven-time world champion will share the fourth row with a driver who made his admiration for Hamilton no secret.

Hadjar lapped less than a tenth faster than the Ferrari despite his seatbelt issues, qualifying behind a double Mercedes-filled Row 3.

As for the first two rows, Piastri counted himself out when he made an error at Turn 2, losing time while his teammate set purple sectors across the lap.

Norris originally slotted into provisional Pole, however, the shock of the session soon arrived when Max Verstappen stunned Honda’s home crowd by stealing Pole Position from McLaren.

With a new track record of 1:26.983s, Verstappen was just 12 milliseconds ahead of Norris, with Piastri only 44 milliseconds behind in third. 

Leclerc rounded out the second row, hoping to hold position into Turn 1 when the fast-charging Mercedes of George Russell forges his attack tomorrow afternoon.

Lights out for the potentially wet Japanese Grand Prix will take place at 15:00 AEST on Sunday, with Verstappen aiming to covert Pole into victory for Red Bull’s last home race with Honda. 

Image: Mark Thompson/Getty Images // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying Results:

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