Verstappen edges Perez to secure pole for the Japanese Grand Prix

Max Verstappen narrowly edged his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to secure pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Red Bull once again dominated the field in the Japanese Grand Prix qualifying with Max Verstappen consistently finishing the fastest in every session and Sergio Perez coming in second place only 0.066s behind the leader.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was the closest rival behind the Bulls and will start from third on tomorrow’s starting grid.

Ferrari was obviously keen to get back on track in qualifying after a fairly challenging session. Nonetheless, they stuck to their routine and were the first to send out their drivers along with Haas.

Soon after, the Williams drivers joined the track action once more under warning not to crash and damage their cars since there was no spare chassis available.

About three minutes into the qualifying session, the usual queue formed at the end of the pitlane as everyone at once wanted to take to the track after the first drivers finished relatively quiet runs and took advantage of an uncrowded track.

Verstappen once more came out on top right out of the box when the times began rolling in. Alonso and Perez were trailing the Dutchman by over four-tenths as Piastri placed fourth before Sainz and Norris.

The top nine at the time comfortably remained in the pits but Leclerc, who had started the session only tenth, was compelled to return to the track. The Ferrari driver advanced to fourth place while Bottas leapt to eighth to safely avoid the drop zone.

Rb duo Daniel Ricciardo and Yuki Tsunoda advanced along with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, locking up their berths in Q2 while Lance Stroll was unable to make it through, finishing in 16th place.

Gasly ended down in 17th place as he complained about lacking the ability to use the accelerator quickly enough when driving off turns. Magnussen, Sargeant, and Zhou were also eliminated, failing to advance to Q2.

Perez performed significantly better in the second session, nearly equaling Verstappen on the very first lap. The Red Bulls also happened to be the first cars to record a time with Piastri and Hulkenberg following closely behind.

Albon remained in the pits, ready to head out when the track calmed, while Hulkenberg had his time deleted for going over track limits.

The majority of drivers who went back to the track for an additional lap later in the session were able to improve on their previous times. Notably, Hamilton set the third-fastest time, just 0.147 seconds behind pace-setter Verstappen, knocking Norris and Alonso to fourth and fifth place, respectively.

The Ferrari pair advanced with ease, while Tsunoda finished in 10th place, edging his teammate by 0.055 seconds. Verstappen once again set the fastest time in the final round after Hamilton set the initial benchmark.

Lando Norris recorded the second-best time, a quarter of a second behind the leading Red Bull while Perez was third and Sainz fourth. Following the initial laps, Hamilton took sixth place and Alonso was in eighth while Leclerc finished in between the former Champions with a lap completed as the track was getting calm.

Ultimately, Perez made progress to contend for the pole position, but he was unable to catch up with his teammate as the Red Bulls once more took the lead. Norris finished in third place, with Sainz and Alonso following in fourth and fifth.

2024 F1 Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying Results