Max Verstappen’s return to form in Suzuka was confirmed as he took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman’s emphatic 1:28.877s lap-time was 0.581s faster than second place Oscar Piastri, who impressed on his Suzuka debut for McLaren.
Lando Norris took third in the second McLaren with Charles Leclerc the first of the Ferraris in fourth.
Sergio Perez finished fifth in the second Red Bull, 0.773s back from teammate Verstappen and Carlos Sainz took sixth in the second Ferrari.
The two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished seventh and eighth respectively.
Home hero Yuki Tsunoda took ninth for AlphaTauri with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso maintaining his 100% Q3 record in 2023 with 10th.
Q1 was interrupted by a Red Flag caused by Logan Sargeant’s heavy impact with the wall at the final corner, on what would have been the Williams driver’s only timed lap.
Position
Driver
Team
Time Gap
1
Max Verstappen
Red Bull
1:28.877
2
Oscar Piastri
McLaren
1:29.458 0.581
3
Lando Norris
McLaren
1:29.493 0.616
4
Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
1:29.542 0.665
5
Sergio Perez
Red Bull
1:29.650 0.773
6
Carlos Sainz Jr
Ferrari
1:29.850 0.973
7
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
1:29.908 1.031
8
George Russell
Mercedes
1:30.219 1.342
9
Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri
1:30.303 1.426
10
Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin
1:30.560 1.683
11
Liam Lawson
AlphaTauri
12
Pierre Gasly
Alpine
13
Alex Albon
Williams
14
Esteban Ocon
Alpine
15
Kevin Magnussen
Haas
16
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo
17
Lance Stroll
Aston Martin
18
Nico Hulkenberg
Haas
19
Guanyu Zhou
Alfa Romeo
20
Logan Sargeant
Williams
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