Max Verstappen returned to his winning ways as he emphatically secured the pole position at the Japanese GP Qualifying. The Red Bull cruised to his ninth pole position of the season with a lap of 1:28.877. Meanwhile, McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris secured P2 & P3, respectively.
Verstappen clocked a time of 1m 29.012s in the early minutes of Q3 and improved to a 1m 28.877s on his second run, a dominant performance that put him more than half a second clear of Piastri and Norris – who could not better their initial laps – as the chequered flag dropped.
Charles Leclerc pipped the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez to fourth position, with team mate Carlos Sainz rounding out the top six positions, the two Ferrari drivers only completing one lap apiece in the pole shootout after using up more soft tyres earlier on.
Following their tricky first day of practice, Mercedes had to settle for seventh and eighth in qualifying, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton ahead of George Russell, who was another to be limited to just one attempt in Q3.
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Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris will line up behind the Red Bull on Sunday in second and third respectively with the two McLarens over half a second down on Verstappen’s pole time.
Verstappen’s 0.581s advantage over Piastri is the largest pole margin at Suzuka since Michael Schumacher in 2004.
“I think that was one of the great qualifying laps in F1 history,” said Sky Sports F1’s Karun Chandhok.
F1 newcomer Liam Lawson came agonisingly close to another Q3 outing but had to settle for 11th position, followed by the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, who were split by Alex Albon’s Williams, and the lead Haas of Kevin Magnussen.
Alfa Romeo lost both cars at the Q1 hurdle, with Valtteri Bottas just missing the cut in 16th position and Zhou Guanyu placing 19th, the Chinese racer having been seen running wildly wide and losing his final lap for exceeding track limits, while also reporting traffic.
Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg followed in the other Aston Martin and Haas machines, with Williams rookie Logan Sargeant bringing up the rear behind the aforementioned Zhou after crashing out of proceedings midway through the opening phase.
Sargeant entered the weekend with more questions being asked about his F1 future and, having vowed to cut out mistakes, he dramatically lost control of his Williams at the final corner, took a trip through the gravel and slammed into the barriers, bringing out a red flag.
There could yet be a twist in the tale before Sunday’s race, however, with Leclerc, Zhou and Bottas all under investigation post-session for allegedly failing to follow the Race Director’s instructions regarding maximum lap time.
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Japanese GP Schedule
Race, Date – 24th September
Timings – 10:30 AM IST
Japanese GP LIVE STREAMING DETAILS:
Where can you watch Race on TV?
The Race will not be telecast on television in India.
Where can you watch Practice, Qualifying, and Race? – Live Stream
F1 fans in India can Live Stream all the Formula 1 action on the F1TVPro App and Website.
Location – Suzuka International Racing Course
First Grand Prix – 1987
Number of Laps – 53
Circuit Length – 5.807 km
Race Distance – 307.471 km
*Inputs from Formula 1
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