#Vettel claims #JapaneseGP pole as @ScuderiaFerrari lockout the front-row. #F1

Sebastian Vettel broke the lap record twice in Q3 to claim pole position during qualifying at the Japanese GP as Ferrari locked-out the front row.

 

 

Vettel lead the entire third stage of qualifying, posting a 1:27.2 on his initial flyer before improving to a 1:27.064 on his final hot lap to clinch pole position and his first since June’s Canadian Grand Prix

 

Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc found another three tenths of a second between his two Q3 flyers but missed out on scoring his fifth-straight pole position in a row and saw his qualifying streak of nine out-qualifications of Vettel come to an end.

 

Having dominated Friday’s practice sessions, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton both had poor first timed-runs in Q3 to occupy the second row of the grid in third and fourth respectively.

 

Bottas who dominated both FP1 and FP2 on Friday, improved to a 1:27.2 on his last hot lap but still missed out on a front row position by 0.040 seconds.

 

Championship leader Hamilton was only less than a hundredth behind his Mercedes team-mate in fourth.

 

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who suffered a power-loss with his Honda power-train in Q2, and team-mate Alexander Albon both set identical efforts to qualify fifth and sixth respectively with the former posting the 1:27.851 to claim fifth before his team-mate Albon did.

 

McLaren’s Carlos Sainz continued to show his strong form, taking best-of-the-rest honours and qualified 0.160 seconds clear of team-mate Lando Norris after the latter was ahead of the Spaniard following the initial flyers.

 

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Haas F1 Team’s Romain Grosjean completed the top ten, with the former nearly four tenths adrift of Norris and Grosjean over half a second off of his fellow French-compatriot.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen took 11th and 13th respectively with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll in-between in 12th with the trio narrowly missing out on a Q3 appearance after a flurry of improvements from their nearest rivals.

 

Giovinazzi was a tenth off Grosjean, while Stroll and Raikkonen were just shy of over two tenths of a second.

 

The other Honda-powered Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat was two tenths further adrift in 14th place after making a slight improvement on his final flyer, whilst Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg was well below in 15th.

 

Hulkenberg was unable to complete the middle qualifying stage after suffering a hydraulic pressure loss with the German complaining of an issue with the power steering and gear-shifts on his out-lap.

 

The other Renault of Daniel Ricciardo was the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees and will start 16th on the grid.

 

Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and ROKiT Williams Racing’s George Russell qualified in 17th and 18th respectively.

 

Both Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen and ROKiT Williams Racing’s Robert Kubica will start at the rear after suffering crashes in Q1, with both drivers going off at the same spot, which brought out the red flags in separate incidents.

 

It will be a race against time however for Kubica to make the starting grid due to his heavy shunt on the start/finish straight.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix 2019 Qualifying Results Classification right here at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2019/races/1016/japan/qualifying.html

 

The Top Three

 

Pole Position – Sebastian Vettel, #5, Scuderia Ferrari, SF90: “”Not easy, the conditions are very different to what we had on Friday. We didn’t expect to have a front row! What we had was unbelievable, the car felt light and there was a headwind which is what you want!”

 

2nd – Charles Leclerc, #16, Scuderia Ferrari, SF90: “Seb did an amazing lap, and deserves the pole. I’ve been struggling since the beginning of quali, but I’m happy with the lap I did. Happy and surprised to both be on the front row.”

 

3rd – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, F1 W10 EQ Power+: “We seemed quite strong, but we always knew Ferrari might have something in reserve. In Q3 they looked untouchable. We have a new package, a new aerokit, but it was not quite enough.”

 

You can catch up on what happened in Friday’s Free Practice One and Two sessions along with F1 Newsbites at the following links:

 

@ValtteriBottas tops #JapaneseGP FP2 in another @MercedesAMGF1 1-2. #F1

 

@ValtteriBottas tops #JapaneseGP FP2 in another @MercedesAMGF1 1-2. #F1

 

#F1 Newsbites – #JapaneseGP edition.