Max Verstappen delivered a salutary lesson to anyone who might consider his world championship defence a forlorn hope with one of the best qualifying performances of his career in claiming pole for the Japanese Grand Prix.
In a car that is a handful to drive, at a circuit where precision and total commitment go hand in hand, Verstappen wrestled the beast through what was no less than a champion’s drive.
His Red Bull team were elated as he pipped the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who have been quickest in the buildup, into second and third, beating the Briton by one-hundredth of a second. The scale of their joy was matched perhaps only by the surprise of team and driver.
“If you look at how our season started, even during this weekend, it’s very unexpected. That makes it a very special one,” Verstappen said. “I’m on pole, I’m still not happy with the balance of the car, but we are working on it and for us this is a great little surprise.”
The Red Bull principal, Christian Horner, echoed his sentiments. “We did not expect that: outstanding,” he said. “He extracted every ounce of performance. He got the most out of it and getting that pole position was completely against the form we had been seeing, a big lift for the team. That was one of his best laps in qualifying ever.”
The effect on the team should not be underestimated after they struggled with their car in the opening three meetings. Verstappen’s frustration has been crystal clear and with neither of his two teammates this season – Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda – able to come even close, it is clearly his exceptional skill that is making the difference.
The car has proved remarkably hard to drive, lacking stability and with a very narrow performance window. It has an alarming proclivity to reel from understeer to oversteer that puts it on a knife’s edge. At Suzuka the team had toiled to try to put it in the right place and Verstappen had not been happy in practice, while the McLarens repeatedly topped the timesheets with effortless ease.
When it really mattered, however, Red Bull had found the optimal setup, even though Verstappen still had to coax it over one of the finest challenges in F1. The narrow, high-speed rollercoaster here, where direction changes come thick and fast, punishes errors and a good lap time requires complete confidence. Tsunoda, admittedly in his first outing in a Red Bull, could manage only 15th.
Norris, who leads the Dutchman by eight points in the championship, admitted he had been simply bettered on the day, if by the slenderest of margins. But while it was a mighty performance by Verstappen, the battle lies ahead. The McLarens still look to have real form and will expect to demonstrate it in race pace; with their car being very kind on its tyres, Verstappen will have an enormous task to keep them behind him.
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During a gripping session it was the final runs that proved decisive. Norris knew he needed to replicate some of the form he had shown here. Hurling his car at the track, he executed seemingly perfectly, taking the top spot. However, behind him Verstappen had found his groove, wrangling the Red Bull through the corners despite all its shortcomings, producing a blinder with a lap of 1min 26.983sec, a record at Suzuka.
Much of the focus has fallen on Tsunoda at his home grand prix and on his Red Bull debut after the brutal decision the team made last week to demote Lawson after only two races in favour of the Japanese driver. Tsunoda initially appeared to have a better grip on the recalcitrant car, one-tenth slower than Verstappen in first practice and within three-tenths in third practice.
He had looked good in the opening phase of qualifying but failed to improve as the track evolved and his last quick lap in Q2 was scruffy. It proved costly and he went out, a full half-second off Verstappen and one place behind Lawson, who was 14th.
“I just wasn’t able to put it together in the end,” Tsunoda said. “It’s quite difficult to operate this car properly, it’s more narrow than the Racing Bulls car.”
The session was interrupted with a red flag caused by a fire in the grass beside the track during Q2, a problem that has persisted. There were two stoppages for fires in the second and third practice sessions, started by the sparks from the skid plank on the cars. They may be an issue during the race on Sunday, although rain is expected. Should they occur again the FIA will attempt to deal with them under a safety car or virtual safety car.
