Gutsy Verstappen snatches ‘special’ pole for Japan GP

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen smashed the track record to snatch pole position for today’s Japanese Grand Prix ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, as Yuki Tsunoda qualified a lowly 15th in his Red Bull debut.

Verstappen clocked a blistering lap of 1min 26.983sec in his Red Bull, 0.012sec ahead of early championship leader Norris, with the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri third.

Verstappen has struggled with his car this season and the McLarens dominated all three practice sessions at Suzuka.

But Verstappen delivered in his final lap in the qualifying, pipping Norris right at the death.

“If you look at how our season started, even during this weekend, it’s very unexpected,” the Dutchman said of his first pole position of 2025. “I think that makes it a very special one.”

Verstappen is still looking for his first race victory of the campaign, having finished second in Australia and fourth in China.

He has won in Japan for the past three seasons but he was cautious about reading too much into his latest qualifying heroics.

“I don’t say, ‘oh I’m first now, everything is perfect’,” said the Dutchman.

“We still have clear issues that we need to solve. That’s what we are continuing to work on.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth ahead of Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with RB’s Isack Hadjar seventh.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was eighth, followed by Williams’s Alex Albon and Haas’s Oliver Bearman.

The McLarens have started the season in rampant form, with Norris winning the opener in Melbourne and Piastri leading him in a one-two finish in Shanghai.

Norris said the team would “do our homework tonight” to try and break Verstappen’s Suzuka stranglehold.

“It’s probably going to be a bit of a race like Melbourne, and that was an exciting race for everyone,” said the Briton. But now I’ve got to try and do some overtakes, so we’ll see. It’s exciting.”

Tsunoda eliminated in Q2
Tsunoda was eliminated in Q2 in a disappointing first qualifying drive for Red Bull after being promoted in place of Liam Lawson last week.

The Japanese driver finished one place behind Lawson, who returned to RB after just two races for Red Bull in a ruthless driver swap.

“I had pace in FP3 (third practice) so I didn’t expect it to be like this, how it ended up today, so it’s a shame,” Tsunoda told Sky Sports.

“But one positive is that I started to understand the car. This car is quite difficult to operate properly, it’s quite narrow compared to the RB, but I feel quite confident in the car.”

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Williams’s Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso were eliminated in Q2 along with Lawson and Tsunoda.

Sauber pair Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, Haas’s Esteban Ocon, Alpine’s Jack Doohan and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll were all eliminated in Q1. Qualifying was suspended for about eight minutes in Q2 when a small trackside fire broke out as sparks from the cars ignited the grass in the dry conditions.

It was the fifth such incident of the weekend, with the second and third practice sessions also disrupted by small fires.

Verstappen said his battle with the two McLarens will be “very hard”.

“So far this season we have not been able to fight them but it’s not like we just sit there and accept it,” he said. “We try to do the very best and we will give it a good fight tomorrow if we can.”

Rain forecast adds new element to combustible Japanese GP
Formula One drivers were eyeing up the threat of rain at today’s Japanese Grand Prix after already dealing with wind and trackside fires earlier this week at Suzuka.

Rain is forecast in the morning and could continue into the early afternoon race itself, presenting a new challenge after the elements disrupted practice and qualifying.

Sparks from the cars ignited dry grass around the track and forced the action to stop on five separate occasions over Friday and yesterday. Wind was also a factor, although conditions have stayed dry so far this week.

Ferrari’s Hamilton, who finished a lacklustre eighth in qualifying, said he was hoping for rain to even the field.

“I am excited, I genuinely love the rain,” said seven-time world champion Hamilton.

“It’s going to be tricky but when you have a qualifying like I just had, you hope for the rain.”

“Ahead of qualifying, all available time and resources will be focused on further dampening the grass,” an official from motorsport’s governing body FIA said.

A further blaze erupted during qualifying though, halting the session for around eight minutes.

“We’ve lost count how many red flags there have been due to grass fires this weekend,” the Alpine team said in a social media post.

Norris said the changing weather meant there was “no point trying to think of too many things” before the race.

“I think the unknown of the weather is going to make it exciting and nerve-wracking for everyone,” said the British driver.