Tokyo [Japan], April 6 : Red Bull's Max Verstappen edged out teammate Sergio Perez to claim the pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying.
After recording the quickest time during the opening laps of Q3 with a lap of 1m 28.240s, the world champion improved his last effort to 1m 28.197s. Perez gave it his all, but his timing was 0.066s slower than Verstappen's, putting him in second place.
Lando Norris finished third, with Carlos Sainz moving up to fourth after winning in Australia the previous race. Fernando Alonso led the Aston Martins in fifth place, followed by birthday boy Oscar Piastri in sixth.
Lewis Hamilton will share the fourth row with future Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, ahead of George Russell in ninth - who is expected to be probed by the stewards for a pit lane incident in Q1 - and Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top ten in his home race.
Mercedes were once again unable to replicate an encouraging practice pace, with Lewis Hamilton finishing ninth. The sole consolation for the seven-time world champion was that he out-qualified teammate George Russell for the first time this season.
Daniel Ricciardo of RB was forced into the drop zone by teammate Tsunoda at the end of Q2, and the Australian will start from P11, with Nico Hulkenberg joining him on the sixth row in P12.
Valtteri Bottas led Kick Sauber in P13, ahead of Williams' Alex Albon, while Esteban Ocon finished P15 in the Alpine on a weekend when the squad released their first updates of the season.
Lance Stroll was pushed into the elimination zone during Q1, resulting in the second Aston Martin starting in P16. Pierre Gasly also left the session, as the Frenchman has failed to progress to Q2 this season.
Kevin Magnussen's Haas was unable to progress beyond the first segment of qualifying and will start from P18, while Logan Sargeant's Williams and Kick Sauber's Zhou Guanyu finished the day in P19 and P20, respectively.
The 2024 Japanese Grand Prix race will begin on Sunday.
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