Red Bull is in prime position ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix after locking up the front row, with Max Verstappen finishing fastest in qualifying on Saturday afternoon [AEDT].
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso made a statement early with an impressive performance in Q1 which saw him record the second-fastest time, just 0.388 seconds behind Verstappen.
But the pace of the Red Bull proved too much as Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez went first and second with McLaren’s Lando Norris third-fastest.
Norris had initially moved into the front row after beating Perez and coming up just a quarter of a second short of Verstappen early in Q3 but had to settle for third in the end.
Meanwhile, Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri will start sixth on the grid behind Carlos Sainz and Alonso after an impressive qualifying session which started with a strange incident involving Mercedes driver George Russell.
Russell will visit the stewards after the qualifying session after it was confirmed he would be investigated for an unsafe release into the path of Piastri in the pit lane.
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“Very dangerous from Russell…” Piastri said over his radio as Russell left the garage and seemingly forced his way into the fast lane ahead of the McLaren drivers and those behind him.
Piastri impressed early to go fourth-fastest in Q1 while fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who was initially at risk of being eliminated, finished ahead of RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda with the ninth-fastest time.
Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu were the five drivers to be eliminated in Q1, with David Croft calling the Aston Martin driver’s result a “shock”.
It came after Valtteri Bottas stepped up on his final lap of Q1 to jump up into eighth, knocking Stroll out in the process despite Alonso recording the second-fastest time.
Verstappen, as expected, set the pace early up the top along with Perez.
Unfortunately Ricciardo did not last much longer, knocked out of Q2 by Tsunoda, although the Australian was not far behind his teammate and will start 11th on the grid in a promising result given his struggles this season.
“His engineer was saying I know you’re not going to be happy about being beaten again by Yuki, Daniel saying on the radio look, I’m not happy but we’ll focus on tomorrow,” Sky Sports commentator David Croft said.
Ricciardo’s engineer later told Ricciardo after the race that he “should be pleased” despite being knocked out by Tsunoda.
“Yep, I’m obviously not but I appreciate it,” Ricciardo replied.
“We’ve done well.”
Logan Sargeant crashes out in Japan | 00:50
Meanwhile, for Tsunoda it was his third Q3 appearance in a row — the first time he has achieved that feat since 2021.
Once again it was the Red Bull duo leading the way after Q2 while Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell both improved, with the former coming in third-fastest.
The Red Bull pair maintained the pace to take the top two spots while Hamilton dropped to seventh and Russell finished ninth.
“It was close today, really close with Max,” Perez said after qualifying.
“It felt like a good lap.
“It was quite tricky out there actually, especially closing out the laps. It was quite easy to lose a couple of tenths into the last section and into the chicane, so we hooked it in all together. Unfortunately it was not quite enough.”
“It was quite close at the end,” added Verstappen.
“.. It’s great as a team to be P1 and P2. Hopefully we can keep that going for tomorrow.”
QUALIFYING RESULTS AND TIMES
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull — 1’28.197
2. Sergio Perez, Red Bull — 1’28.263 (+0.066)
3. Lando Norris, McLaren — 1’28.489 (+0.292)
4. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari — 1’28.682 (+0.485)
5. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin — 1’28.686 (+0.489)
6. Oscar Piastri, McLaren — 1’28.760 (+0.563)
7. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes — 1’28.766 (+0.569)
8. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari — 1’28.786 (+0.589)
9. George Russell, Mercedes — 1’29.008 (+0.811)
10. Yuki Tsunoda, RB — 1’29.413 (+1.216)
11. Daniel Ricciardo, RB — 1’29.472 (+1.275)
12. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas — 1’29.494 (+1.297)
13. Valtteri Bottas, Sauber — 1’29.593 (+1.396)
14. Alex Albon, Williams — 1’29.714 (+1.517)
15. Esteban Ocon, Alpine — 1’29.816 (+1.619)
16. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin — 1’30.024 (+1.827)
17. Pierre Gasly, Alpine — 1’30.119 (+1.922)
18. Kevin Magnussen, Haas — 1’30.131 (+1.934)
19. Logan Sargeant, Williams — 1’30.139 (+1.942)
20. Zhou Guanyu, Sauber — 1’30.143 (+1.946)
MORE COVERAGE
Sainz, Red Bull kingpin send F1 rumour mill into overdrive as duo shake hands in Japan
Japanese GP Practice Wrap: Ricciardo move badly backfires; F1 grinds to halt over ‘sloppy’ error
Piastri decimates F1 team in brilliant, hilarious seven-word troll
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