Max Verstappen rebounded from a rare did-not-finish at the Australian Grand Prix by winning pole for the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix during Saturday’s (April 6) qualifying session.
Verstappen was able to lead off a Red Bull Racing front row lockout – the team’s fourth at Suzuka – with teammate Sergio Perez qualifying less than a tenth of a second him. Lando Norris was best of the rest in third.
“To be on pole, you want every lap to be perfect,” Verstappen told Sky Sports’ Jean Alesi after the session. “Around a track like this, that’s not always the case. Overall, very good day and very good starting position. And tomorrow is what counts.”
Q3
There were no on-track incidents in this round, nor in the other two rounds of qualifying.
Q2
Tsunoda advanced to Q3 in front of his home crowd for the second season in a row after putting in a fast lap at the very end of the session. However, this advancement came at the expense of Tsunoda’s RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Q1
Kevin Magnussen took three attempts in this session, as the Haas team tested out a new setup after being slow in practice. It wasn’t enough, as the Dane was eliminated in this round anyway.
Bottas had a monster lap at the very end of the session to finish this round in eighth, a high mark for KICK Sauber so far this season.
| Pos. | Driver No. | Driver | Team | Time from Advancing |
| 16. | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes | +0.061s |
| 17. | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine Renault | +0.156s |
| 18. | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | +0.168s |
| 19. | 2 | Logan Sargeant | Williams Mercedes | +0.176s |
| 20. | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | KICK Sauber Ferrari | +0.180s |
Konnichiwa one and all, as F1 races this weekend in the land of the rising sun. Lights out of this year’s Japanese Grand Prix will come at 2 a.m. ET on Sunday, April 7, with coverage in the United States on ESPN.
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