Japanese Grand Prix – Qualifying: Verstappen the 4th in a row

The sun is barely rising in France, in Japan it is already high in the sky since it is 3pm when this qualifying session begins. The Suzuka circuit is complete, demanding a lot from the chassis of the single-seaters.

Behind Red Bull, the Mercedes seem comfortable, they have had good free practice sessions. The Ferraris are struggling more. Last year it was Max Verstappen who had secured pole position, with an impressive time of 1:28.877.

Q1

Kevin Magnussen is the first to take off on this magnificent Suzuka track. Alone on the track, he completes his first lap in 1:31.203. 5 minutes after Magnussen, the two Williams surpass him with the best provisional time. Very quickly, the 2 Red Bulls set the record straight, with Max Verstappen ahead of Sergio Perez by over 4 tenths, already beating last year’s pole position time. Fernando Alonso slots in between the 2 drivers. The Ferraris are quite far off on this first attempt, with Carlos Sainz over 6 tenths behind and Charles Leclerc over a second behind!

The garage of the Grand Prix, Yuki Tsunoda, climbs to ninth place, just behind the Mercedes. Lando Norris almost takes off on the inside of the chicane’s curb, he sets the 6th fastest time. At the end of the first attempts, the two Haas, Guanyu Zhou, Logan Sargeant and Pierre Gasly are temporarily eliminated.

Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant are the first drivers to go out for a second time with 4 minutes left in Q1. The Thai driver climbs to 11th place, the American is on the bubble in 15th position. The 2 Alpines are now in the drop zone, in 16th and 17th place.

Charles Leclerc, on a second set of tyres, sets the record for the second sector, and moves up to 4th place. Pierre Gasly only moves up to 15th, immediately overtaken by Niko Hülkenberg who moves up to 12th. Esteban Ocon sets a nice time which earns him the provisional 10th position. Valtteri Bottas also improves and moves up to 8th place! In the end, it’s Lance Stroll who will be eliminated finishing this Q1 in 16th position.

Q1 eliminated: Guanyu Zhou (20th), Logan Sargeant (19th), Kevin Magnussen (18th), Pierre Gasly (17th), Lance Stroll (16th).

Q2

The two Red Bulls open the ball for this Q2. Sergio Perez, ahead almost for the entire lap, gets overtaken by his teammate in the last sector, in 1:28.740. Lando Norris positions himself behind Red Bull, two-tenths of a second behind the three-time world champion. Fernando Alonso, in fourth place, slots in between the McLarens as Oscar Piastri is on his heels.

Niko Hülkenberg’s lap time was cancelled for exceeding track limits at turn 13, in Spoon. Carlos Sainz moves up to 5th, Charles Leclerc to 7th. On this first Q2 attempt, Mercedes appears to be struggling in 8th and 9th position. The battle in Q1 will be between the 2 Racing Bulls, Esteban Ocon, Niko Hülkenberg, and Alex Albon, who is currently last after the initial laps.

With 3 minutes to go in Q2, the majority of drivers are back on track. Lewis Hamilton, who seems very comfortable on his run, sets the pace first and achieves the third provisional time. Esteban Ocon does not improve enough to make it to Q3. The Ferraris still seem to struggle: 6th and 9th. George Russell sets the 7th time.

The final qualification spot will be fought between Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo. Ultimately, it is the Japanese driver, at home, who takes this 10th place by 55 thousandths!

Eliminated in Q2: Esteban Ocon (15th), Alex Albon (14th), Valterri Bottas (13th), Niko Hülkenberg (12th), Daniel Ricciardo (11th).

Q3

Once again, it is Lewis Hamilton who kicks off this final round of qualifying. He completes his lap in 1:28.766. The Red Bulls are ahead on the first intermediates of the track, and Max Verstappen’s time is undisputed at 1:28.240. Carlos Sainz sets a quick lap time less than 5 tenths behind the Dutchman. While Lando Norris slots in between the two RB20s! He is barely two tenths slower than Max Verstappen. Fernando Alonso is disappointed with his time, as he thought he had a good lap, he is 7th after the first attempts.

Charles Leclerc, on his only attempt, sets off alone with 5 minutes to go in Q3. He sets the record for the second sector, he is in Lando Norris’ lap times. He finally finishes in 7th provisional position. He will have to wait for the second lap of the other drivers to know his place on the starting grid tomorrow. He seems disillusioned on the radio indicating that it was the best he could do.

Sergio Perez fails by 23 milliseconds in Max Verstappen’s first lap. The latter improves his time again by a few milliseconds. Yuki Tsunoda finishes 10th. Fernando Alonso moves up to 5th, George Russell remains 9th. It will be Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz who will follow the 2 Red Bulls on the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix tomorrow.

Qualification ranking