Japanese GP Qualifying: Verstappen flies to 29th-career pole.

Verstappen Japanese GP Pole – Reigning world champion Max Verstappen blitzed the field to score his 29^th-career pole position in qualifying at the Japanese GP putting Red Bull on course for their sixth Constructors Championship crown as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris rounded out the top three.

Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB19, celebrating after clinching his 29th-career pole position in Qualifying at the Formula 1 Lenovo Japanese Grand Prix 2023, Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka, Mie-Prefecture, Japan. Image credit to Mark Thompson/Getty Images. Verstappen Japanese GP Pole, 2023 Japanese GP Qualifying, F1 Japanese GP Qualifying, Japanese GP Qualifying Results, Verstappen Red Bull Pole Japanese Qualifying.

In Q3, Verstappen held provisional pole setting all three purple sectors with a solid effort of a 1:29.012 on a scrub set of softs as Piastri was 0.446 off the double world champion in second whilst Norris was a further 0.481 adrift in third.

In the final flyers, the Dutchman once again went purple in all three sectors improving to a solid 1:28.877 to secure pole position by over 0.581 seconds to Piastri with Norris a further 0.616 seconds off to qualify in third.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took fourth and ahead of the second Red RB19 entry of Sergio Perez who lines up on the third row of the grid alongside the second SF-23 of Carlos Sainz.

The Mercedes pairing followed with Sir Lewis Hamilton outqualifying team-mate George Russell who were seventh and eighth respectively.

AlphaTauri’s home favourite Yuki Tsunoda starts his home Grand Prix in ninth as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso rounded out the top ten.

In the second qualifying session, which was topped by Leclerc, Russell after a late improvement eliminated AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson by 0.043 denying the New Zealander a place in the final qualifying stage in 11^th.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly qualified in 12^th and ahead of Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who placed 13^th as the other A523 Alpine entry of Esteban Ocon was 14^th and Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen was the slowest of the Q2 runners in 15^th.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Verstappen, following a late-improvement by Albon to jump into twelfth place, it pipped Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas into 16^th by 0.073 seconds denying the Finn a spot in Q2.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll could not improve on his effort, wounding up 17^th and in-front of Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg who placed 18^th.

The other Alfa Romeo C43 entry of Zhou Guanyu had his lap-time invalidated for exceeding track limits at turn nine and reported over the radio of an AlphaTauri blocking him.

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant suffered a shunt following a snap of oversteer mid-corner after coming out of the Casio Triangle Chicane and running onto the grass, crashing his F45 racer front and rear-on into the barriers with 9:05 left on the clock and bringing out the sole red flag in the session.

Leclerc, Bottas and Zhou are all currently under investigation by the stewards for failing to follow the race directors instructions on completing the maximum lap time required.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Japanese Grand Prix 2023 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1220/japan/qualifying.html

2023 Japanese GP – The Top Three

2023 Japanese GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB19, 1:28.877:

“First, I want to say thanks to the fans for supporting us the whole weekend. From our side, incredible weekend so far and especially in qualifying, the car felt really nice. You never know how good it’s going to be but from lap one it felt really, really nice.”

2^nd Place – Oscar Piastri, #81, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL60, +0.581:

“The first lap was pretty solid, I was quite happy with it, it was a good lap but the second lap – my first sector was good, the next two not so good. The upgrades on the car – yeah, they are quick. First time I’ve started on the front row for a while, but it will be cool!”

3^rd Place – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL60, +0.616:

“A very good day for us as a team, a P2 and a P3 – a great job by Oscar. I was pretty happy with my laps, it’s a tricky circuit to put everything together. I’m happy, it’s been a good day and good positions for tomorrow. Some of the most amazing McLaren stories come from here in Japan, and we’ll look to continue that tradition.”

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