Having struggled for pace throughout the practice sessions, Max Verstappen bounced back in qualifying to take a surprise pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix. F1Technical’s senior journalist Balazs Szabo reports on the nail-biting qualifying at Suzuka.
Max Verstappen was looking to struggle for outright pace across the practice sessions on Friday and Saturday morning, but he managed to turn his fortunes around for the all-important qualifying session.
The reigning champion made a series of changes to his RB21, including tweaks to the weight distribution, aerodynamic balance, suspension setup, which has allowed him to take on the fight against the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
The Dutchman delivered a brilliant lap in the closing stages of qualifying, posting a record-breaking time of 1m26.983s tp beat Norris and Piastri by 12 and 44 thousands of a second.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc did manage to show his full potential throughout the practice sessions, but he bounced back in qualifying. Although the Monegasque was unable for challenge for the pole position, he still managed to secure third spot on the grid, beating Mercedes driver George Russell, who looked very strong throughout the weekend.
His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli spent the majority of the practice sessions at the bottom of the leaderboard, but the Italian displayed a complete upturn in form to qualify himself sixth.
Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar delivered another impressive performance to end up seventh on the grid, with Ferrari’s seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton suffering a disappointing end to his qualifying to finish down in P8.
More to follow…
