Max Verstappen says his stunning pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix is “a very special one” after unexpectedly beating both McLarens.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were favorites to fight it out for pole at Suzuka, with George Russell an outside threat based on the limited free practice running that had been seen. Verstappen had been struggling with his car earlier in the weekend, but his final attempt in Q3 saw him pip Norris to pole by just 0.012s and take his first pole of the season.

“[There was] A lot of happiness when I crossed the line,” Verstappen said. “The whole qualifying we just kept on trying to improve the situation a bit. And then the final lap, honestly, was very good.

“I had a lot of fun out there, being fully committed everywhere. Some places, not sure if I was actually going to keep it or not. But it was really nice and also great for the team as well.

“It’s difficult [to rank]. I mean, I’ve had some really nice ones also in other places. But I think if you look at how our season started, even during this weekend, I think it’s very unexpected, I would say. And I think that makes it probably a very special one.

“The last lap was just flat out. I mean, around here being on the limit – or maybe even a bit over in places – is incredibly rewarding.”

Despite his starting position, Verstappen acknowledges the McLarens have been quicker in race trim at each of the first two circuits and is unsure if he will have the ability to convert pole into victory.

“We did what we could [in practice]. Now I don’t know. First, we also have to wait and see what weather we’ll get. And from then onwards, I think it’s very important to just focus on ourselves, do the best we can, execute the race of course in the best way possible. But I don’t know how fast we will be.

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

“But at the end of the day, it’s a very long championship and you need to keep on scoring points whenever you can in the best way possible, naturally. But at least we’re starting up front and we’ll see where we go.”

Max Verstappen stunned McLaren by snatching pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix with a new track record at the Suzuka Circuit.

Verstappen had been more than 0.2s down on Oscar Piastri’s provisional pole time after the first runs of Q3 but strung together an inch-perfect final lap to rocket to top spot.

“That is insane,” his engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, told him, to guttural screams of excitement from the cockpit.

His final lap of 1m 26.983s set the record for Suzuka, breaking Sebastian Vettel’s previous benchmark from 2019 by 0.081 seconds.

The Dutchman hadn’t expected to contend for pole and said he needed to put it all on the line to seal the deal.

“The last lap was just flat out,” he said. “Around here being on the limit or just a little bit over in places is incredibly rewarding.

“We tried the best we could to get the best possible balance with the car, but it wasn’t easy.

“Every session we just kept on making little improvements. I think that’s where we made the difference.”

Norris was slow with his first lap, leaving him more than half a second behind Piastri, but rebounded strongly with a purple first sector to take second on the grid, missing pole by just 0.012s.

“I’m happy because I feel like I got everything out of the car today,” he said. “[The gap is] tiny.

“Was there that much [left] in it? Yes, but Max did an amazing lap.”

Piastri lamented that he couldn’t hold provisional pole after a poor first sector on his final attempt despite ending Q3 with purple times in the second and third sectors.

“It felt good through most of qualifying, especially at the start of Q3,” he said. “The lap just didn’t come together as I wanted.

“I think it’s all to play for tomorrow. We’ve got a great car, just a little bit left on the table out there today.”

Charles Leclerc led the way for Ferrari in fourth, the Monegasque driver 0.316s off the pace.

Mercedes slumped to fifth and sixth with George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli after having dreamt of contending for the front row after Friday practice. Russell was 0.335s off the pace, while Antonelli was 0.237s further back.

Isack Hadjar overcame what appeared to be issues with his seat belt to make it all the way to Q3 and qualify an impressive seventh for Racing Bulls – the best Red Bull-backed driver behind Verstappen – ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman to complete the top 10.

Pierre Gasly missed out on Q1 by 0.039s, putting him 11th on the grid ahead of Williams driver Carlos Sainz – who will see the stewards after the session for allegedly impeding Hamilton in Q2 – and Fernando Alonso in the lead Aston Martin.

Liam Lawson will start from a season-high 14th for his first race back with Racing Bulls, notably outqualifying Yuki Tsunoda, who has replaced him at Red Bull Racing this weekend.

Tsunoda failed to improve on his Q1 time, which left him 0.094s slower than Lawson and 0.498s slower than Q3-bound teammate Verstappen.

The Japanese star and his team will rue being sent out for just one flying lap on softs in the second half of Q2 after a grass fire had sent all drivers back to their garages with just over eight minutes on the clock. It was, however, the closest any teammate has got to Verstappen all season and the best qualifying result for the second Red Bull car.

Nico Hulkenberg qualified 16th after being knocked out of Q1 by just 0.016s. He headed teammate Gabriel Bortoleto by a similarly slender 0.052s.

Esteban Ocon will line up 18th for Haas ahead of Jack Doohan, who failed to improve with his final lap, and Lance Stroll, who scuppered his final lap after sliding off the road and into the gravel while powering up towards Dunlop.

Lando Norris pipped Oscar Piastri to top spot in final practice at the Japanese Grand Prix after two red flags for grass fires curtailed track time.

Norris left his best lap until late, setting the benchmark at 1m 27.965s on the fifth lap of his run with the soft-compound tire.

The Briton had botched his first attempt to set a time on that same set of tires by running wide at Degner 2, prompting him to abandon the lap.

The championship leader had set a purple first sector before lifting; he left around 0.025s on the table in that sector on his fastest lap later in the session.

Piastri was 0.026s slower than Norris, while George Russell continued to threaten the McLaren monopoly with a fastest lap just 0.112s off top spot.

While running was significantly smoother in FP3 than in the severely disrupted FP2 of Friday afternoon, two grass fires bookended the hour, suspending the session for around 15 minutes in total.

The second fire appeared at 130R, where Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto put two wheels on the grass and almost put himself at high speed into the fence. The Brazilian saved the snap, but it appeared to trigger the small blaze that forced race control to abandon the session with seven minutes remaining on the clock.

It fixed the order with Charles Leclerc in fourth and Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton in sixth, 0.449s and 0.559s off the pace respectively.

They sandwiched Max Verstappen, who remains unhappy about the shifting balance of his Red Bull Racing car.

“It’s all over the shop,” he radioed. “In some corners it’s not bad, but then it becomes undrivable again.”

Alex Albon was seventh for Williams ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull Racing car. The Japanese favorite had been a close match for Verstappen on the hard tire and after their first qualifying runs on softs, when they were separated by just 0.1s, but a late second attempt from the Dutchman widened the margin to 0.288s.

Isack Hadjar completed the 10 for Racing Bulls ahead of Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson.

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli remained off the pace of his frontrunning teammate down in 13th and 1.161s off the pace.

Jack Doohan completed his first full session of the weekend in 14th, the Australian returning to the cockpit of his totally rebuilt Alpine car after his crash at Turn 1 early in FP2 on Friday.

Doohan was first out on track when pit lane opened but completed only 15 laps, among the least mileage completed by any driver in the session after a quarter-hour spell in his garage in the middle of the session.

Fernando Alonso was 15th ahead of Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg.

Jack Doohan avoided serious injury in a huge crash during the second practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix that has left Alpine facing a major car rebuild.

The Alpine driver had missed FP1 as Ryo Hirakawa drove in his place, and had just started his fifth lap of FP2 when he went off at high speed at Turn 1. Doohan appeared to still have the DRS open as he turned in at full throttle at the first corner and with the lack of downforce, the car instantly swapped ends before smashing into the tire barrier.

Doohan went off at what was estimated to be over 180 miles per hour, with the car sustaining enormous damage and the Australian taking his time to emerge from the wreckage despite telling the team over the radio that he was okay. After being checked at the medical center, he was then released back the Alpine hospitality.

“Following precautionary medical checks, we can confirm that Jack is okay,” Alpine posted on Friday evening. “Now we’re working hard to get the car ready for tomorrow.”

The team initially refused to comment further on the incident, while Doohan also did not speak publicly after the crash. Team principal Oliver Oakes later confirmed the cause had been driver error.

“We are all relieved to see Jack walk away from his incident in Free Practice 2 and glad to see he is okay after his precautionary checks,” Oakes said. “It was a misjudgement of not closing the DRS into Turn 1. It is something to learn from and I know Jack and the team will be ready for tomorrow. His crew will work hard to have the car prepared after the damage.”

Lando Norris believes George Russell will prove to be McLaren’s main threat in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix based on Friday’s limited running.

FP2 was interrupted by four red flags – including a massive crash for Jack Doohan – and teams were unable to complete any significant long running, with qualifying simulations also interrupted. That made FP1 the better session to compare performance and it was Norris who topped the times, but the championship leader has his eye on Mercedes.

“I still think we’re at the top, but I think George was very quick this morning, just as quick as us,” Norris said. “So I think Mercedes are in a good place. Maybe Red Bull looked a little bit further off, but they have looked further off into qualifying and then they get a bit closer again.

“So to be honest, I think the normal, but just a messy session. So I don’t think this session [FP2] was probably the best example of where everyone was. I think maybe FP1 was a better example that you kind of saw teams in order.

But I still expect it to be close and a tough battle tomorrow. I mean, I hope it’s not. I hope it’s nice and easy for us, but I’m sure Mercedes, at least, and definitely George from today’s showings will be challenging us a bit tomorrow.”

Teammate Oscar Piastri set the fastest time at the end of FP2, but hadn’t managed to complete a clean soft-tire lap in the first practice session and admits the conditions at Suzuka have made it hard to get a full understanding of car set-up.

“Difficult,” Piastri said. “I think with the part of the track being resurfaced and very gusty winds, it’s been a challenge. Around here, it’s somewhere where the wind really changes the balance a lot. And when it’s gusty like this, I don’t think you have the same car two laps in a row. So it’s been a pretty tricky day.

“Obviously, FP2 was pretty stop start, so it was hard to get into a rhythm. But I think by the end of the day, I felt reasonably comfortable. Still some fine tuning to go. I think there’s been some things I’ve been happy with today, but it’s not been the easiest overall.

“It’s really hard to know [the competitive order]. I think FP1 was difficult to get pace out the car. I think FP2, I was much more comfortable. But I think Mercedes looked very quick as well, just didn’t find much on the softs, which I think with this kind of session, it’s always a bit tricky to get a proper read.

“The pace is there and I’m feeling confident that we’ve got good pace for the rest of the weekend. But it’s still a little bit tricky at this point. So I think we’ve still got to be on our toes.”

Yuki Tsunoda says the Red Bull feels “a bit more tricky” to drive in reality compared to the simulator, despite making an encouraging start in FP1 at the Japanese Grand Prix.

There was plenty of focus on Tsunoda’s first outing in the RB21 during the first practice session of the weekend at Suzuka, and he duly posted a best lap time just over 0.1s off teammate Max Verstappen at a similar time in FP1. The afternoon running was hit by four red flags that meant many teams missed out on representative data, but Tsunoda admits he got enough running to feel the challenges of his new car.

“Yeah, FP1 was better than expected, a good start for myself,” Tsunoda said. “And FP2 I didn’t set a lap time. I think there is a lot of work to do, maybe slightly struggled or something that we have to look through the data in FP2 more, but so far overall it’s OK. I just have to build up confidence more.

“It’s a bit different to the simulator from what I felt, to be honest. A little bit more than I expected in terms of the car feeling. I knew anyway it was always going to be a bit different in the real car and it was a little bit more exaggerated in the real car. It’s feeling a bit more tricky.”

While Tsunoda is a new addition to the Red Bull lineup, Verstappen has been calling for car improvements for some time, and says the lack of confidence he has in the car is hurting his pace.

“It was quite chaotic out there for everyone with the red flags,” Verstappen said. “So we, like everyone else, couldn’t complete all the things that we wanted to do. But today has been quite difficult for me, just trying a lot of different things with the car. But it seems like a lot of things are not really clicking at the moment.

“It’s quite difficult just to put the lap down. You need a lot of confidence and commitment around here. And at the moment, I don’t feel like I can use that. So we still have a bit of work to do.”

Verstappen also complained of a strange sensation with his whole car flexing during FP1, but says that is an ongoing issue that appears more prominent at Suzuka and will take time to understand. Of more immediate concern for the defending champion is getting a read on how the Red Bull’s race pace is looking on Saturday.

“Not so much [graining] for us. But I was on the soft, so that tire requires a lot of management anyway. You can’t really push that tire. And then I only did like three laps at the end.

“So not really a good read. I think tomorrow, potentially in FP3, you will see a lot of teams trying to do a bit more of a longish run with the time that you have. But yeah, it’s not been an easy day.”

Jack Doohan has walked away from a monster high-speed crash early in a heavily disrupted second practice session topped by Oscar Piastri at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Doohan lost control of his Alpine at Turn 1 on just his fifth lap of the day, his car spinning out from beneath him at 205 miles per hour.

The Australian pirouetted at high speed through the gravel and into the barriers, where it was pulped against the wall.

Doohan immediately radioed that he was okay, but the winded 22-year-old took his time getting out of the car before gingerly trudging to the medical car.

He was subsequently cleared of injury at the medical center and released back to his team.

Video replays suggest Doohan’s DRS was open as he tipped his car into the corner. The DRS closes automatically on application of the brakes, but Turn 1 is taken flat, leading to suggestions Doohan may have failed to manually close it.

A strong tailwind was also gusting down the main straight during the session.

FP2 was Doohan’s first session of the day after surrendering his car to reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa for FP1.

The session was suspended for almost 25 minutes while circuit organisers repaired the Turn 1 barriers and resumed with 30 minutes remaining, but running lasted only three minutes before the second stoppage of the afternoon, this time triggered by Fernando Alonso.

Alonso clipped the grass on entry to Degner 1, which was enough to send him spinning into the gravel trap, where his Aston Martin ended the day beached in the stones.

The red flag cost teams another eight minutes of track time, but the session was green for just five minutes when it was suspended for a third, in this instance to put out a grass fire on the inside of the long Turn 7 leading to Degner 1.

Only seven minutes remained when the session resumed, with Oscar Piastri using the brief time to rocket to top spot with a best lap of 1m 28.114s, pipping teammate Lando Norris by 0.049s.

Norris attempted to respond, but a slow final sector – some 0.5 seconds off his personal best in that split – left him behind the sister car.

The session ended under a fourth and final red flag for a second grass fire, this time at Spoon Curve.

Isack Hadjar completed the top three for Racing Bulls, the French rookie sneaking in his best time following Alonso’s red flag.

The order is of limited value as a representative order, however, with just 21 minutes of green-flag running spread over four windows and no driver completing more than 14 laps.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari at 0.43s off the pace, the Ferrari driver just 0.015s quicker than Liam Lawson in the second Racing Bulls car.

George Russell was sixth ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, who complained that his car was “understeering everywhere” on his soft-shod lap.

Pierre Gasly was ninth for Alpine ahead of Carlos Sainz completing the top 10 for Williams.

Alex Albon followed ahead of Sauber teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was 16th for Mercedes ahead of the stopped Fernando Alonso, Red Bull Racing’s Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll.

Doohan was classified last with only four laps completed.

Red Bull and Haas headline the technical updates brought to the third round of the Formula 1 season at the Japanese Grand Prix.

At the start of a triple header that also incorporates rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, there are limited new parts brought by teams but Red Bull does have a performance upgrade with a tweak to its rear suspension. Red Bull describes it as a “mild revision to lower wishbone shroud and fairing into the rear wheel bodywork”, that should improve flow around the rear brake duct.

There are also adaptations to the engine cover and exit ducts on the rear brakes, although those are targeted more at the upcoming races and include blanking options for Suzuka where temperatures are lower this weekend.

Haas has one significant update as it introduces a new floor at the home race of its new technical partner Toyota, with the central floor re-shaped. The team says the aim is to improve stability when the car is running at low ride-heights in high speed corners, something that it was able to do more effectively using its previous specification on the smoother surface in China that led to it scoring double points.

At Racing Bulls there is an update to the Halo shroud that influences the performance of the rear wing and the floor downstream, while Williams has a new front wing in Japan. An update to the front wing flap and end plate work in conjunction and lead to improved control of the front wheel wake.

Last year’s 10th-placed team Stake has brought a number of new items to Suzuka, at what will be the first race weekend for new team principal Jonathan Wheatley. Like Haas, there is a new floor that focuses on upgrades to the floor fences, outboard floor and diffuser, while a fresh rear wing increases overall efficiency and improved cleanliness of the rear wing assembly.

Stake also has a new beam wing this weekend, with the team adding an upper element to the existing main wing to increase overall load.

Lando Norris started the Japanese Grand Prix weekend with the fastest time in a tight contest with George Russell for top spot in the first free practice session.

Home favorite Yuki Tsunoda also impressed in his first outing with Red Bull Racing with a lap only 0.1 seconds slower than new teammate Max Verstappen.

Norris needed three attempts to complete his flying lap after wasting his first two soft-shod times with mistakes at the final chicane.

He first suffered a big snap of oversteer on exit, and on his second attempt a big bite of the curb sent him sliding off the road and into the gravel. A gusty breeze, whipping through the chicane and down the front straight, was likely at least partly to blame.

He made no such error on his final attempt. Purple in the first two sectors, he was notably more restrained in the chicane to set the fastest time at 1m 28.549s, besting Russell’s best effort by 0.163s.

The Briton sounded a note of caution, however, when he radioed complaining of front-tire graining after only a pair of laps on the medium tire, while Russell appeared not to suffer the same issue.

Ferrari followed in the order, with Charles Leclerc 0.416s off the pace ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who 0.086s further back.

Leclerc complained of struggling with the tailwind into the first turn, though his team suggested it wasn’t hampering his time.

Verstappen – who unusually reported that his car was “flexing a lot” early in the session – was 0.516s off the pace in the lead Red Bull Racing car, with new teammate Tsunoda just 0.107s further back.

It was a strong first session for Tsunoda, who was quicker than Verstappen through the hairpin but also down the straights with some well-judged exits during the wind-affected hour.

Fernando Alonso was seventh for Aston Martin ahead of Isack Hadjar and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes teenager retaining the fastest time in the final split, more than 0.2s quicker than Norris’s best attempt.

The Italian ended his session with a lock-up into the hairpin during his medium-tire run, though he was able to continue back to pit lane unhindered.

Carlos Sainz completed the top 10 for Williams in a session notable for the Spaniard forgetting his team’s position in pit lane, forcing him to complete another lap before returning to his garage.

His teammate, Alex Albon, was 11th after a lock-up that sent him into the stones at the hairpin. He was able to rejoin without damage.

Alpine reserve driver Ryo Hirakawa, the winner for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2022, was 12th in his stand-in appearance commandeering Jack Doohan’s car. He was 0.845s off the pace and faster than teammate Pierre Gasly, who was two places and 0.153s further back.

The Alpine duo sandwiched Liam Lawson, back at Racing Bulls, and were ahead of 15th-placed Oscar Piastri, who didn’t get a flying lap in, leaving him in an unrepresentative low position.

Lance Stroll was 16th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, Oliver Bearman, Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto at the bottom of the order.

“Well, I liked the comment, the text, so I guess that speaks for itself, right? It was not a mistake.”

Max Verstappen is not happy.

At the center of a crowd huddled around a small table in the temporary hospitality building that is home for Red Bull for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, the Dutchman would not discuss exactly what he told the team about his thoughts on Liam Lawson’s demotion after just two races, but he still found a way to get the message across.

Former Formula 1 driver Giedo van der Garde had published an Instagram post in support of Lawson a week ago, in which he said of the situation: “in my opinion this comes closer to bullying or a panic move than actual high athlete achievements”. And Verstappen had liked it. On Thursday he confirmed that it was he who had done so, as he agreed with the sentiment.

Christian Horner wasn’t at Suzuka while the drivers were facing questions about the situation, instead still traveling down from Tokyo for a Friday arrival when he will become central to the story. But in his absence, it was Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies – encouraging a supportive and welcoming atmosphere from his personnel towards Lawson on his return – and the drivers themselves who were the focal point.

Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda had their say, but other drivers were naturally asked about the situation, too, and while Tsunoda is a seriously popular figure in the paddock, not all of the viewpoints were positive.

“I’m not surprised to see them move that early, no,” Lewis Hamilton said. “But I don’t really have any views on other teams.

“Both great drivers, I think we’ve got a lot of really great drivers here and particularly young talented drivers, I think there’s naturally a lot of pressure on youngsters coming in and I think there’s no way you can get fully on top of a car which is known to be not the easiest car to necessarily drive – just to give him two races was pretty harsh.”

From the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time to the most recent race-winner, there were multiple drivers who voiced their opinion that two races is not enough to be judging someone on.

“I think what we’ve seen from Liam in the first two races is not a reflection of his talent,” Oscar Piastri said. “I’ve raced Liam for a number of years and I think he’s an incredibly competitive driver. I don’t think the results he showed in the first two rounds are indicative of what he’s capable of, and I’ll leave it at that.”

The word “brutal” has often been used over the past week, from both a media or fan perspective, but also senior figures within the F1 paddock. Tsunoda acknowledges that can often be the case with Red Bull, but offers an interesting take on it perhaps being one of the reasons for the team’s past successes.

“For me at least, it was brutal enough last year at the end of the season when they chose Liam over me,” Tsunoda said. “It is what it is. I’m sure Liam also understands how quickly things can change within our structure. That’s one of the reasons we succeed, but also one of the reasons why we tend to get a little more attention with those situations.

“I have confidence. I’m not saying I have the confidence that I can perform straight away like Max, but I have confidence that I can do something different – hopefully – compared to other drivers that will be in the car. If I didn’t have confidence, I wouldn’t be wearing this [Red Bull t-shirt], I would have stayed in Racing Bulls.

“Racing Bulls already have such a good car, and I understand how they extract performance in every race so far but because I wanted to have a new challenge, and I have good confidence to challenge myself, so that’s why I’m wearing this and hitting the track with a different livery.”

Mekies did his best to put the positive spin on it, and there are positives, but they also create a lot of internal conflict for many. Given Lawson got so little time to prove himself, the fact he still has a seat – with something to prove and the chance to prove it – is what his new team principal is encouraging. And it’s hard to argue that it wouldn’t be great to see.

But at the same time, you’ll be hard pushed to find anyone wanting to see Tsunoda struggle, too, even though that might be the most likely outcome in a car that has proven extremely tricky to drive for both Lawson and the far more experienced and successful Sergio Perez. And if Tsunoda is going to find the going tough, then it would be particularly cruel to see that at his home race.

The entire circuit is going to be rooting for him this weekend, and I imagine plenty watching from around the world too. But then if we get our wish and Tsunoda also performs well, then you end up with both drivers delivering, and Red Bull being vindicated in making the switch. And with my apologies to the team, the last part doesn’t quite feel like the most positive aspect.

Especially if that could be seen as papering over cracks that Verstappen himself says cannot and should not be ignored.

“Maybe we can now see how difficult it is to drive that car,” Verstappen said. “I don’t think you need to have a look at anyone, to be honest. What has been done has been done. I think it’s more important that we take a good look at ourselves and just keep on working and keep on improving the car.

“I don’t care what anyone else thinks. Or ‘poor Checo’, or ‘poor this’, or ‘poor that’. At the end of the day, we got ourselves into this situation, so we just need to work on it.”

The defending champion is not satisfied. How Tsunoda and Lawson fare this weekend is going to be fascinating to watch, but so too are Verstappen’s fortunes.