SUZUKA, Japan — Reigning Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen inched closer to clinching a second straight title by winning the pole for the Japanese Grand Prix Saturday at Suzuka Circuitland.
The Red Bull driver edged the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz during the final qualifying session. The Dutchman turned a lap of 1 minute and 29.304 seconds to beat Leclerc by .010 seconds.
“It was pretty incredible to drive here again, especially in qualifying when you are on low fuel, these cars really come alive through the first sectors,” Verstappen said. “I am really happy to be on pole and in general, just super happy to be back here in Japan. During qualifying, I lost a part of the duct from the car in my final lap so that’s why I couldn’t really improve, nevertheless the first lap was good enough. It will be interesting to see what the weather does tomorrow, there may be rain during the race, I am quite confident that we have a good race car so let’s see what we can do. I’m not thinking about the championship still, I’m just taking it day by day. The most important thing is that we have a competitive car, and we had that today in qualifying. We still need that perfect race.”
While Sainz ended up third, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez was fourth.
Esteban Ocon claimed the fifth spot for Alpine.
Lewis Hamilton was sixth for Mercedes.