Max Verstappen secured pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix, only just beating Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez at the end of qualifying.
The world champion took his fourth consecutive pole over the first four rounds of the 2024 season by just over half a tenth from his team mate. McLaren’s Lando Norris will start behind the Red Bulls in third, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jnr in fourth.
Q1
Conditions were overcast but dry as the first section of qualifying began. Kevin Magnussen was the only driver to head out in the early minutes of the session, setting the first time of qualifying with a 1’31.203.
Soon after, a train of cars left the pit lane for the first time. Mercedes released both their drivers at the same time and George Russell joined the queue directly in front of Oscar Piastri. The stewards confirmed that they would investigate the incident after qualifying.
All drivers opted for new soft tyres for the start of qualifying, with Max Verstappen setting the early pace with a 1’28.866 – easily the fastest time of the weekend – almost four tenths quicker than Fernando Alonso in second and Sergio Perez third.
Among the front-running drivers, only Charles Leclerc opted to make a second run, going fourth fastest with a second new set of softs. The usual suspects were fighting to progress into the second session at the bottom of the timing screen, however Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas put in a very impressive final lap to go into the top ten and easily secure a place in Q2.
That came at the expense of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who failed to make the cut by five hundredths of a second. He took 16th place while Fernando Alonso reached Q2 in the other Aston Martin.
Four other drivers also failed to join their team mates in Q2: Pierre Gasly was eliminated while Esteban Ocon reached Q2, and Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu also went no further.
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Q1 result
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Q2
As has become their habit, Red Bull sent both Verstappen and Perez out at the very start of Q2 to make the most of a clear track for their first runs. Verstappen used the empty track to set a 1’28.740 to go quickest out of all drivers in the opening minutes, but Perez almost matched his team mate’s time to go second, just a hundredth of a second slower.
Lando Norriswas exactly two tenths slower than Verstappen in third, while Alonso was…
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