SUZUKA, Japan – Sebastian Vettel earned his second pole of the Formula One season as part of a Ferrari front row lockout during qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix Sunday at the Suzuka Int’l Racing Course.
Vettel put down a strong lap of 1:27.064, which gave him the 57th pole of his lengthy Formula One career. Charles Leclerc qualified second, with his lap clocking in at .189 seconds slower than the lap put down by Vettel.
Qualifying, originally scheduled for Saturday, was postponed a day due to the arrival of Typhoon Hagibis.
“It’s very important to have got both our cars on the front row in qualifying in Suzuka. We haven’t done it since 2006 and it’s definitely a good start to the day. However, it’s this afternooon’s race that counts, so we must stay focussed and get on with the job in hand. We have made a step forward compared to Friday, running less rear wing to try and get more speed down the straights, which also helped with the car balance.”
Row two belonged to Mercedes, with Valtteri Bottas qualifying third ahead of his championship leading teammate Lewis Hamilton in fourth. Row three belonged to Red Bull, with Max Verstappen and Alexander Albon taking fifth and sixth.
McLaren filled the fourth row, with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lando Norris qualifying seventh and eighth. Pierre Gasly qualified ninth for Toro Rosso, with Haas driver Romain Grosjean completing the top-10.
The only incidents during qualifying took place in round one, when Robert Kubica and Kevin Magnussen both crashed. Kubica’s car was too damaged to continue, but Magnussen was able to drive his damaged car back around to the pits.