Max Verstappen gave himself a great chance to retain his Formula One world title at Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix after grabbing pole in Suzuka.
The Red Bull driver topped the timesheets in qualifying with a time of 1min 29.304sec, just 0.010sec ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, his nearest championship rival. Carlos Sainz was third in the other Ferrari.
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Verstappen then faced a nervous wait after stewards said they would investigate a scary on-track incident involving the Dutchman and McLaren’s Lando Norris. Verstappen was given a reprimand but will remain in pole.
He can clinch the title on Sunday if he wins the race with the fastest lap, no matter what his rivals do.
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He will also retain his crown if he wins and Leclerc is third or lower. “I’m not thinking about it too much, just taking it day by day,” said the 25-year-old Verstappen, who has won 11 of 17 races this season.
“I think what was more important is that we’ve had a competitive car and clearly we had today in qualifying.
“I hope it’s going to be the same tomorrow in the race because we do need a perfect race to be able to win it tomorrow.” Verstappen and Norris had a close call in qualifying when the Dutchman nearly lost control of his car while on a slow lap at the final chicane as Norris raced up behind him.
The McLaren driver was forced onto the grass to avoid hitting the Red Bull, with the championship leader muttering “unbelievable” over his team radio.
Verstappen pinned the blame on Norris, saying he should have been “more respectful”.
“We were on our out lap and we were all lining up to create a gap to everyone and then somehow he still wanted to get me into the chicane,” explained Verstappen.
“But I was on the point of accelerating and I was on very cold tyres, so I had a little moment and that’s why he had to drive around me.
“But if he had just a bit more respect for me, because everyone is anyway lining up and I don’t think anyone is trying to pass into that last chicane, so by trying to pass me you create that kind of thing.”
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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner told Sky Sports that there was “a gentleman’s agreement” that drivers would file through the chicane one by one.
“There is a gentleman’s agreement between the drivers that when you get to that part of the circuit that you hold position and you file through the last corner one by one,” he said.
“So, Lando decided that he wants to jump the queue as they head up to that final chicane. They were following each other around the lap until that point. I don’t think [Max] expected it. He was warming the tyres up to start the lap. They go one-by-one through the chicane.
“They are all doing different things on the out lap and I can only assume that Lando wanted to blitz it into 130R and the chicane.”
Norris disagreed, telling the broadcaster that he thought Verstappen should have been penalised “for sure”.
“There’s no rule on what you can do, but doing what he did is something that you cannot do,” said the British driver.
Verstappen’s car lost a chunk of bodywork on his last lap after he ran wide on a section of the track and onto a kerb.
-Ricciardo’s X-rated blow up-
Daniel Ricciardo was left frustrated after narrowly missing out on a place in the top 10 on the grid.
The Australian, without a contract for 2023, was fast in the early stages of the second session but was beaten in the dying moments and ousted from the final term by Sebastian Vettel.
The time margins in Q2 just 0.003s between Vettel and Ricciardo.
Ricciardo let his frustration be known over team radio.
“We’ll have a good race tomorrow. We’ve got good race pace,” his team said.
“f***, I don’t know where it got away,” Ricciardo said.
– Fed-up, furious –
Leclerc was just a whisker away from claiming his third straight pole. “It was a tricky one but overall the car felt good,” said the Monaco driver, who trails Verstappen by 104 points in the championship standings, having had the upper hand at the start of the season.
“The first sector feels crazy. There’s so much grip and in Q3 once you go for that last lap it really feels special. It was a fun qualifying.” Sainz was close behind his teammate with a time of 1min 29.361sec and said he was “fed up” of missing out on pole.
“It was a good lap, clean all the way into the last chicane but it overcooked a bit heading into the last chicane and it cost me quite a bit of lap time,” said the Spaniard.
Sergio Perez, in the other Red Bull, was fourth.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was fifth, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, George Russell, Sebastian Vettel and Norris to round out the fastest 10.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton is looking to maintain his proud record of winning at least one race in every season since his Formula One debut in 2007.
But he said the Red Bull and Ferrari cars were “in a different league” in Suzuka from his Mercedes.
“It feels good to drive and it was a clean session for me, but we are just a long way off in terms of the ultimate pace,” he said.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly failed to make it past Q1 after an issue with his brakes.
The Frenchman, who announced earlier in the day that he will replace two-time world champion Alonso at Alpine next season, was furious.
“I feel we could have managed this situation a bit better,” Gasly told TV reporters.
Grid for the Japanese Grand Prix
Front row Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull) Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari)
2nd row Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull)
3rd row Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine) Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)
4th row Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine) George Russell (GBR/Mercedes)
5th row Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin) Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren)
6th row Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/McLaren) Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Alfa Romeo)
7th row Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri) Zhou Guanyu (CHN/Alfa Romeo)
8th row Mick Schumacher (GER/Haas) Alexander Albon (THA/Williams)
9th row Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri) Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas)
10th row Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin) Nicholas Latifi (CAN/Williams)afp
