Verstappen stops McLaren run to take shock Suzuka pole

Max Verstappen stunned McLaren by snatching pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix with a new track record at the Suzuka Circuit.

Verstappen had been more than 0.2s down on Oscar Piastri’s provisional pole time after the first runs of Q3 but strung together an inch-perfect final lap to rocket to top spot.

“That is insane,” his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, told him, to guttural screams of excitement from the cockpit.

His final lap of 1m 26.983s set the record for Suzuka, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s previous benchmark from 2019 by 0.081 seconds.

The Dutchman hadn’t expected to contend for pole and said he needed to put it all on the line to seal the deal.

“The last lap was just flat out,” he said. “Around here being on the limit or just a little bit over in places is incredibly rewarding.

“We tried the best we could to get the best possible balance with the car, but it wasn’t easy.

“Every session we just kept on making little improvements. I think that’s where we made the difference.”

Norris was slow with his first lap, leaving him more than half a second behind Piastri, but rebounded strongly with a purple first sector to take second on the grid, missing pole by just 0.012s.

“I’m happy because I feel like I got everything out of the car today,” he said. “ tiny.

“Was there that much in it? Yes, but Max did an amazing lap.”

Piastri lamented that he couldn’t hold provisional pole after a poor first sector on his final attempt despite ending Q3 with purple times in the second and third sectors.

“It felt good through most of qualifying, especially at the start of Q3,” he said. “The lap just didn’t come together as I wanted.

“I think it’s all to play for tomorrow. We’ve got a great car, just a little bit left on the table out there today.”

Charles Leclerc led the way for Ferrari in fourth, the Monegasque driver 0.316s off the pace.

Mercedes slumped to fifth and sixth with George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli after having dreamt of contending for the front row after Friday practice. Russell was 0.335s off the pace, while Antonelli was 0.237s further back.

Isack Hadjar overcame what appeared to be issues with his seat belt to make it all the way to Q3 and qualify an impressive seventh for Racing Bulls – the best Red Bull-backed driver behind Verstappen – ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman to complete the top 10.

Pierre Gasly missed out on Q1 by 0.039s, putting him 11th on the grid ahead of Williams driver Carlos Sainz – who will see the stewards after the session for allegedly impeding Hamilton in Q2 – and Fernando Alonso in the lead Aston Martin.

Liam Lawson will start from a season-high 14th for his first race back with Racing Bulls, notably outqualifying Yuki Tsunoda, who has replaced him at Red Bull Racing this weekend.

Tsunoda failed to improve on his Q1 time, which left him 0.094s slower than Lawson and 0.498s slower than Q3-bound teammate Verstappen.

The Japanese star and his team will rue being sent out for just one flying lap on softs in the second half of Q2 after a grass fire had sent all drivers back to their garages with just over eight minutes on the clock. It was, however, the closest any teammate has got to Verstappen all season and the best qualifying result for the second Red Bull car.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified 16th after being knocked out of Q1 by just 0.016s. He headed teammate Gabriel Bortoleto by a similarly slender 0.052s.

Esteban Ocon will line up 18th for Haas ahead of Jack Doohan, who failed to improve with his final lap, and Lance Stroll, who scuppered his final lap after sliding off the road and into the gravel while powering up towards Dunlop.