Qualifying was go at the Japanese GP, as the engines were firing up and it was time for the first qualifying at the iconic Suzuka since 2019!
After a Friday practice session which took place in wet conditions, the qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix was held on a dry Suzuka track.
We started as always with Q1, the 18-minute segment which set the tone for this session and saw the five slowest drivers eliminated at the end of it.
Given the dry track, we didn’t expect too many surprises here, but the session did give us the best indication yet of just whose quick and who isn’t.
Home favourite Yuki Tsunoda was out first, followed shortly after by AlphaTauri team-mate and new Alpine signing Pierre Gasly. Yuki Tsunoda got us up and running with a fastest time, four tenths quicker than Pierre Gasly. Lando Norris then went quickest, two tenths faster than George Russell and four ahead of Lewis Hamilton. But once the top teams were out on track, as was the case in final practice, Max Verstappen was fastest from Carlos Sainz after the opening runs.
The Dutchman’s 1:30.224 was just over a tenth faster than Carlos Sainz, with Charles Leclerc a little further back in third. Sergio Perez was almost four tenths behind his team-mate in fourth, but those times were surely be enough to send those four through to Q2. Onto the softs and into the top-10 went George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, though still well off the pace of the leaders: Russell went sixth and Hamilton eighth, 0.6s off the pace. That was be enough to see them through to Q2.
It had been a lovely morning for Pierre Gasly with the announcement of his move to Alpine for next season, but that was a miserable qualifying for the Frenchman, who was out in Q1, alongside Alex Albon, Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll and Nicholas Latifi, Williams.
The action was back under way, with the two Ferrari cars the first cars out on track: they were having a go on used soft tyres, and seeing if they could go fast enough on those to keep another set fresh. Carlos Sainz came on the radio to say that the sun had come out, and as a result he thought the lap times might be a little slower. The Spaniard did a 1:30.444, which was enough to beat his team-mate Charles Leclerc by just short of half a tenth.
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The Mercedes were still behind Alpine and McLaren as we moved into Q2 – with Esteban Ocon running fourth, just 0.187s off Verstappen out in front, and Daniel Ricciardo fifth. Lewis Hamilton ran sixth for Mercedes while George Russell was ninth. A nervy race to make it into Q3 awaited the Silver Arrows.
The top three, Max Verstappen and the Ferrari F1-75 cars, decided they had done enough to get through to Q3, while the other 12 cars remained out on track, for what was set to be a dramatic end to Q2. George Russell scraped through to Q3, while Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren), Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Zhou Gunayu (Alfa Romeo) and (Mick Schumacher) were eliminated. Sebastian Vettel was through to the final shootout, while Charles Leclerc dropped all the way down to ninth after the improved times. With Verstappen not returning for a second run, his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez took advantage of an improving track to top the Q2 timesheet with a 1:29.925. Fernando Alonso also snuck in front of Verstappen to take second.
Q3 was go at the Japanese GP and it was time for these remaining ten drivers to battle for these last grid slots. All eyes on the battle at the front, with Red Bull and Ferrari seemingly the only teams in the fight for pole position here.
Unfortunately Max Verstappen looked unbeatable here in these dry conditions: Charles Leclerc seemed to have put together a very strong lap as he edged out Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, but the Dutchman went 0.253s quicker. With Max Verstappen going slowly on his out-lap, Lando Norris decided to try to get past the Red Bull on the track. Apparently unaware of the McLaren, the world champion veered across the track and forced Norris to go onto the grass. It was pretty dangerous and required a quick reaction from Norris to avoid a shunt: Verstappen appeared to offer an apology, waving to Norris during their in-lap. However, the stewards confirmed they will investigate the incident after qualifying.
Further down the timesheet, Fernando Alonso was fifth after the first runs, with Sebastian Vettel rolling back the years to sit sixth. George Russell was ahead of Lewis Hamilton, with Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon rounding it out.
It felt like positions fourth to tenth could end up in just about any order here!
And in the end that was close! Charles Leclerc got within 0.010s of Max Verstappen, but the Dutchman held on for pole. Carlos Sainz was only half a tenth back in third, as both Ferrari cars improved while Verstappen failed to, as Sergio Perez made it a Red Bull-Ferrari lock out of the front two rows.
Esteban Ocon is the best of the rest in fifth, while Lewis Hamilton edged out the other Alpine of Fernando Alonso for sixth. George Russell will be disappointed with eighth, while Sebastian Vettel beat Lando Norris to ninth.
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