'That is insane' - Verstappen stuns McLaren to take Japanese GP pole

Max Verstappen took a shock pole for the Japanese Grand Prix, beating both McLaren drivers to pole with his final lap of qualifying.

McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had topped every practice session and been fastest in Q1 and Q2 at Suzuka, while Piastri had also been fastest after the first Q3 runs.

But after Norris beat that benchmark, Verstappen subsequently strung together a 1m26.983s to go 0.012s faster than Norris - taking his first grand prix pole position since the Austrian GP in June last year.

Verstappen's new team-mate Yuki Tsunoda was 15th in his first qualifying session in a Red Bull.

How the rest of Q3 unfolded

While less than half a tenth separating the top three in Q3 - Piastri failed to improve on his final run - there was a quarter of a second back to the fourth-fastest car, the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

His final lap jumped him ahead of the lead Mercedes of George Russell, who had been third after the first Q3 runs but appeared to have a scruffy run through Turn 2 and the hairpin on his final lap, with the second W16 of Kimi Antonelli completing the top six.

Isack Hadjar was a standout best of the rest for Racing Bulls; he complained throughout Q1 of his discomfort in the car and even stepped out of it after Q1, but then progressed through to Q2 and saved his best for the final session as he beat Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari to seventh.

Alex Albon (Williams) and Ollie Bearman (Haas) completed the top 10.

Where did Tsunoda's pace go?

Home hero Tsunoda had generally appeared comfortable in the second Red Bull throughout practice and at the start of qualifying, and ended Q1 a mere 0.024s slower than Verstappen, making gains on the eventual polesitter in the second and third sectors.

So qualifying 15th - slowest of all - in Q2 was a big disappointment, though there was little indicating he was uncomfortable in the car.

Tsunoda ran used softs on his first run in Q2, a session that was effectively split into two runs only either side of a red flag for a grass fire (the third of the day), then on his second run had a moment on the power exiting the chicane when launching the lap then a moment in Turn 2 that meant he was always struggling.

That was to the extent that the driver he has replaced at the senior Red Bull team, Liam Lawson, outqualified him in the second Racing Bulls in 14th.

Pierre Gasly was the fastest of the Alpines in 11th, ahead of Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin).

Early exits

Both Haas and both Sauber drivers had looked the most obvious to fall in Q1 based on practice form so Bearman appeared to massively outperform his car's potential by taking 10th.

But the other three among that Haas/Sauber quartet were consigned to early exits.

Sauber duo Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were 16th and 17th, Hulkenberg ending up 0.016s the wrong side of the cutoff after a wide moment through the second Degner.

Ocon was only 18th, ahead of the second Alpine of Jack Doohan - who said he did not want to use his sizeable FP2 shunt as "any excuses or anything like that" for his exit and felt without a moment exiting Spoon would have made Q2 - and Lance Stroll's Aston Martin.