Max Verstappen delivered a sensational lap in the dying moments of qualifying for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix denying Lando Norris pole on a day when McLaren were favorites for a front row lock out.
Once again, Verstappen showed the depth of his talent as he dragged that reluctant Red Bull RB 21 into a position it shouldn't be in on merit delivering pole, his 41st in his Formula 1 career.
And once again, Suzuka delivered a classic qualifying and proved that is was a driver's circuit where only the best of the best can deliver.
Lando Norris made his life difficult in the McLaren as his first run in Q3 was no good and had to deliver on his final run but ultimately fell short settling for second aside Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri looked good for pole, setting the fastest lap time in the first runs of Q3, but could not improve on his second run, third place being the best the Aussie could muster.
Charles Leclerc came fourth in what could be described as an anonymous session for the Ferrari as they never seemed to be in a position to threaten the front row with Lewis Hamilton's eighth place further proof.
A driver who would be kicking himself is George Russell who throughout qualifying showed serious pace with a front row start a genuine target but a scruffy second run in Q3 meant the Mercedes team leader had to settle for fifth, over three tenths off pole while teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was sixth fastest.
Isack Hadjar was superb, against the odds, delivering seventh place for the Racing Bulls on a day where he suffered from issues in his cockpit, which were not disclosed at the time this report was written. Probably seatbelt issues...
With Hamilton eighth, Alex Albon was ninth on another strong showing in the Williams, beating Carlos Sainz once again, the latter down in 12th.
Another surprise of the session was Oliver Bearman who was tenth in the Haas. Esteban Ocon was 18th... Enough said.
Yuki Tsunoda, in his first F1 weekend as a Red Bull driver made Q2 but could not go any further and had to settle for 15th on the grid.
Making matters worse for the Japanese driver was the fact that the driver he replaced, Liam Lawson outqualified him in the Racing Bulls and will start the race from 14th which will make the run down to Turn 1 on race day something to look out for between those two.
The fact remains that Lawson was outqualified by Hadjar who survived his "cockpit troubles" to make Q3 and while Tsunoda cannot be blamed for being beaten by Verstappen, beating Lawson would've been a more convincing Red Bull debut.
What the top three said
As Verstappen finished his pole lap and while on the cool down lap heading to parc ferme, his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase: "That is insane. That is insane. Pole position."
"Yes, let's go! What a lap," the Dutchman responded, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner adding: "What a lap Max, unbelievable. You've done it. Pure class."
Later in parc ferme, Verstappen added: "We tried the best we could to get the best possible balance. It wasn't easy but every session we had little improvements.
"That made the difference. The last lap was just flat out and it is incredibly rewarding. We will look to tomorrow and do our best," he added.
"I'm happy," second-placed Norris declared. "Congrats to Max. He did a good job. It's hats off. You have to credit something when it's a lap that good that he must have done.
"I feel I got everything out of the car. Just a tiny [margin] but Max did an amazing lap. For both of us [McLaren drivers] to be up there is good, but it's not enough.
"I dipped a wheel on the exit of Turn 7, so just a couple of little mistakes and it shows how easy it is to lose lap time. My [last] lap was very good. If I were to go again, I probably wouldn't go as quick as I did.
"I feel like we were on the limit of what we had, we just didn't have enough today," the Briton concluded.
As for Piastri, he commented: "It felt good, especially at the start of Q3. The last lap didn't come together as I wanted but I think it is still all to play for in the race.
"We have a great car, we have good pace, but the other teams are now as far away as people think. This morning was pretty tight.
"Max has done a great job to end up on pole but we are still in the fight for a win. I don't mind if it rains or not. I welcome whatever comes," Piastri concluded.
Q1: Lawson makes Q2 for first time but barely
The session started in clear conditions with track temperatures slightly less than the final practice session, 34 degrees Celsius while the air temperature was 15 degrees.
The drivers did not waste any time getting out on track to put in a banker lap and get their qualifying kicked off, and within two minutes of Q1 all 20 drivers were on track.
Out of the big four, Ferrari posted their times first, Leclerc leading and Hamilton second, but soon Norris topped the screens as Albon slotted in third.
The Red Bulls soon followed with Tsunoda going third from his first attempt as Verstappen and Piastri were still doing their first laps.
Verstappen went second fastest but was then demoted to fourth as Piastri went to the top and Russell slotted in second.
Verstappen came on the radio saying his tyres were not gripping at the front while Hadjar reported the same issue in the cockpit which he suffered from in FP3.
Hadjar insisted he had much time in him but could not focus due to "the issue" and that his car was undriveable. He ran wide in Degner 2.
The drivers continued putting in the laps as the lap became better with the lap times getting reshuffled across the board.
The final five minutes saw the drivers heading out on track for the final runs of Q1 and Hadjar said: "If this is what ruins our qualifying, I'm very sorry.
"Man, the issue is still here, I can't believe it," the exacerbated Racing Bulls driver vented moments later.
In the end of Q1, fastest time, a 1:27.687 was posted by Piastri, 0.156s ahead of Russell in third as Norris was third.
Further down the top 15 looked like this: Leclerc - Hamilton - Verstappen - Tsunoda - Antonelli - Pierre Gasly - Sainz - Albon - Bearman - Hadjar - Fernando Alonso - Lawson.
The first to drop out of qualifying was Nico Hulkenberg who was 16th fastest, missing out by just 0.016s to Lawson and was ahead of teammate Gabriel Bortoleto who was 17th. The German had a moment at the Degner which cost him Q2.
Ocon was 18th in the Haas while Jack Doohan was 19th with Lance Stroll 20th after a mistake saw him running wide into the gravel at Turn 6.
Hadjar after making Q2, was asked if he needed to jump out of the car and answered: "Yes." Can the Racing Bulls sort the issue?
Q2: Tsunoda doesn't make it outqualified by Lawson...
Verstappen lined up first at the pitlane exit waiting for the green light to start Q2 of qualifying, the Dutchman clearly not happy with the balance of his car.
Verstappen went fastest and then Leclerc was second with Hamilton dropping his teammate to third just before Norris went to the top, over three tenths clear of Verstappen.
Piastri down the road doing his first lap and was only good for third while Russell went into second after his banker. Piastri dipped his left rear in the gravel at the Degner.
With the first runs in, the order was: Norris - Russell - Verstappen - Piastri - Albon - Hamilton - Leclerc - Antonelli - Hadjar - Gasly.
Under pressure: Sainz - Alonso - Bearman - Tsunoda - Lawson.
But with less than nine minutes remaining, the Red flags were out again as the grass one again caught fire in the run-off area at 130R as marshals scrambled to put it out.
The FIA said: "Grass fire on the inside of 130R. Given there’s 8:30 left on the clock, it’s been decided to red flag the session and resume once the fire has been put out and the area watered again."
With the fire out, and the session resumed, the drivers set out for their final runs, and in the end Norris led the way with a 1:27.146, 0.254s ahead of Russell in second while Verstappen was third.
Piastri was fourth fastest with Leclerc in fifth ahead of Hamilton in sixth as Antonelli was seventh in the other Mercedes.
Bearman was eighth after a superb lap ahead of Hadjar in ninth as Albon was tenth.
The first to drop out was Gasly who was 11th losing out to Albon by 0.039s while Sainz was 12th, 0.014s behind he Frenchman.
Alonso was 13th fastest in the Aston Martin ahead of Lawson who was 14th beating his Red Bull replacement, Tsunoda by a tenth, the latter in 15th.
Q3: Verstappen stuns the competition!
The final ten driver hit the track for the final shootout on Saturday afternoon at Suzuka with Russell the first of the top four teams' drivers to go for a banker lap.
Russell went fastest with a decent lap but Verstappen dropped him to second only for Piastri to drop the #1 Red Bull to second while Norris only managed fourth on his first run. Leclerc slotted in third.
The order after the first runs: Piastri - Verstappen - Leclerc - Russell - Norris - Hamilton - Hadjar - Bearman - Albon - Antonelli.
Replay showed Hamilton having a snap of oversteer while driving out of Turn 9 on his first lap.
With less than four minutes remaining, Bearman and Antonelli head out on track for their final runs while the remaining drivers gradually exited their garages. Piastri and Verstappen stayed behind, biding their time, an joined with a little over two minutes on the clock.
Russell made a mistake on his second run and could not improve while Antonelli improved as Hamilton dropped.
Piastri dropped in his second run while Verstappen delivered a stunning lap to mug Norris and take pole, his first this season.
In the end, Verstappen delivered a 1:26.983 to take pole by 0.012s from Norris while Piastri was 0.044s off the pace in third.
Leclerc was fourth in the Ferrari ahead of Russell in fifth as Antonelli was sixth in the sister Mercedes.
Hadjar was an impressive seventh in the VCARB02 while Hamilton could only manage eighth while Albon was a strong ninth with the superb Bearman rounding off the top ten.
Japanese GP Qualifying Classification
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