Max Verstappen beats Oscar Piastri to Japanese GP pole as Lewis Hamilton suffers
Max Verstappen set up his Red Bull team to make history at the Japanese Grand Prix as he breezed to pole position at Suzuka.
His team can win the constructors' championship on Sunday if they outscore Mercedes and Ferrari. With six race wekeends still to go this year, it will set a new Formula 1 record if they manage it.
And they will have a strong chance of doing it after the Dutchman made sure he will start the race from the front of the grid. And he did so in style, more than half-a-second clear of anyone else at the top of the timesheets. It was the biggest pole margin by anyone at Suzuka since Michael Schumacher in 2004.
He is joined on the front row by Oscar Piastri whose first flying lap was excellent, before he made a mistake on his second, leading to him swearing over the radio in frustration. Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez made up the rest of the top five as Lewis Hamilton and George Russell struggled for pace.
The session was less than 10 minutes old before the red flags flew for the first time this weekend. Under-pressure Logan Sargeant lost control of his Williams on the final corner, slipped onto the grass and smashed into the barrier, leaving his team with an extensive repair job to get the car ready for Sunday's race.
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Once his car was recovered, the session got going again and Yuki Tsunoda sparked a cheer from his home fans by securing his place in Q2. Team-mate Liam Lawson overcame the disappointment of being overlooked by AlphaTauri for a 2024 race seat by also avoiding the bottom five.
Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas were not so lucky as Alfa Romeo suffered another disappointing qualifying session. They were joined by Sargeant, Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll in the bottom five.
Fernando Alonso had barely survived Q1 with Aston Martin struggling for one-lap pace. And he managed to scrape into Q3 as well, 10th fastest in the second part of the session to narrowly edge out Lawson and Pierre Gasly. Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen also fell at the second hurdle.
It meant Tsunoda had delighted the locals even further with his first Q3 appearance since Monaco. He will start the race ninth after going quicker than Alonso in that final part of the session. Russell and Hamilton are ahead of them with Carlos Sainz also missing out on the top five.
Full 2023 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying results
- Max Verstappen – Red Bull
Oscar Piastri – McLaren
Lando Norris – McLaren
Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
Sergio Perez – Red Bull
Carlos Sainz – Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
Mick Schumacher free to race for McLaren in 2023 after Mercedes deal reached
George Russell – Mercedes
Yuki Tsunoda – AlphaTauri
Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
Liam Lawson – AlphaTauri
Pierre Gasly – Alpine
Alex Albon – Williams
Esteban Ocon – Alpine
Kevin Magnussen – Haas
Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo
Lance Stroll – Aston Martin
Nico Hulkenberg – Haas
Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo
Logan Sargeant – Williams
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