Max Verstappen clinched the pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix with a brilliant run at Suzuka. The Red Bull driver defeated Charles Leclerc and his Ferrari colleague Carlos Sainz to earn second place. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished sixth and eighth for Mercedes, with Sergio Pérez in fourth and Esteban Ocon in fifth for Red Bull and Alpine, respectively.
Over the course of the weekend, Ferrari and Red Bull appeared evenly matched, and Leclerc was fastest during the first hot laps of Q3 before Verstappen dominated the final sector to top the timesheets by two-tenths.
On their last laps, Leclerc improved in the middle sector but lost time in the final third, falling short of Verstappen by a mere thousandth of a second. The Dutchman pushed hard on his final lap, but he lost a piece of bodywork off the rear of his car and was unable to improve, as his initial run was already sufficient.
However, Verstappen’s pole position was in doubt for an hour and a half following qualifying. The stewards were investigating an altercation involving him and Lando Norris.
During his first run in Q3, the Dutchman veered over the track on his out-lap on the short straight before the chicane. However, Norris was approaching from behind, exiting the incredibly swift 130-R turn with speed. As Verstappen drove to the left, the British driver was forced to dive across the grass to avoid a catastrophic collision.
After the race, Verstappen appeared to apologize to Norris from his car and was furious that his crew did not tell him the McLaren was so near to the track. However, after qualifying, he was adamant that Norris was in the wrong.
“We were all lining up to make a space between everyone, but he still wanted to get me into the chicane,” he explained. “However, I was about to accelerate and my tires were quite cold, so I had a moment and he had to drive around me.
“If he had just a little bit more respect for me because everyone is lining up and I don’t think anyone is trying to pass into that last chicane, then by trying to pass me you’re causing this type of situation.”
Norris was similarly contemptuous of Verstappen’s conduct and accused him of attempting to obstruct him on purpose. He was clear when asked if Verstappen had attempted to block him. “It was evident he attempted to do so,” he stated.
“There are no restrictions on what you can accomplish, but you cannot replicate what he did. People always pass before the final turn. If he were in my position, he probably would have done the same thing, but if I were in his position, I wouldn’t have swerved to avoid him.
Christian Horner agreed with Verstappen that Norris had violated an unwritten rule in his approach to the chicane. “They were both on out-laps, and there is a gentleman’s agreement among the drivers that when you reach that section of the track, you retain your place and file through the final turn one by one,” the Red Bull team principal explained.
“Lando has decided to cut in front of the line as they approach the final chicane. On the out lap, they are all performing different maneuvers, and I can only presume that Lando wants to accelerate into 130-R and the chicane.”
The stewards conferred with both drivers before rendering their verdict: “Unfortunately, due to the lack of tire temperature on car 1, the driver momentarily lost control of the vehicle, leading it to “snap” counterclockwise.” They reprimanded Verstappen for failing to keep control, but he retained the pole position.
In Japan, Verstappen is in a tremendous position to win the title. He is ahead of both Leclerc and Pérez by 104 points. He will clinch his second championship if he wins this race and Leclerc finishes worse than second. If he wins and has the quickest lap, he will win the title regardless.
If he wins the championship here, he will be only the fourth driver to accomplish it with four or more races remaining. Michael Schumacher won with six races remaining in 2002, Nigel Mansell with five in 1992, and Sebastian Vettel with four at the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix. It would be an appropriate accomplishment following the Dutchman’s utterly outstanding season.
This is his 18th pole position, his first at Suzuka, Red Bull’s first in Japan since Mark Webber won here in 2013, and his sixth of the year. Verstappen has not yet won at this track, but his pole position follows a string of impressive victories, notably from 14th on the grid at Spa and ninth at Monza. He made a costly error in the previous race in Singapore, but the nature of the circuit here should be quite favorable for Red Bull, and he will look to exploit that.
The drivers like this incredibly tough, fast, flowing circuit, which rewards those who can find the ultimate limit on the precision lines required to maximize a lap, as Verstappen achieved with apparent ease.
Before qualifying, Alpine revealed that they had recruited Pierre Gasly from AlphaTauri for the 2023 season to replace Fernando Alonso, who will be joining Aston Martin. Gasly will compete alongside Esteban Ocon, creating the first all-French lineup for the Renault-owned squad since Alain Prost and Rene Arnoux in 1982.
Nyck de Vries will replace Gasly in AlphaTauri. The Dutchman, who is 27 years old, is now the Mercedes reserve driver and won the Formula E championship in 2021. Seventh for Alpine was Alonso, ninth for Aston Martin was Sebastian Vettel, and tenth for McLaren was Norris.
