The championship leader, Max Verstappen has taken pole at the Japanese GP setting a lap time of 1:29.304 closely followed by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who was just 0.020s behind setting a lap time of 1:29.314. Behind Leclerc is his teammate Carlos Sainz.
After setting a lap time of 1:29.709 Max Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez will line up in P4 tomorrow and no doubt Redbull will be looking to score maximum points in tomorrow’s race.
Alpine and Ocon will be delighted as the Frenchman, who will line up alongside Pierre Gasly in 2023 managed to secure P5 after setting an impressive lap time, his teammate Alonso was not far behind him starting in P7 tomorrow.
Both Mercedes drivers also made it through to Q3 with Hamilton starting just behind Ocon in P6 and Russell in P8.
In his final outing at the Japanese GP Sebastian Vettel managed to secure P9 with a lap time of 1:30.554, on the radio after qualifying Seb shared his love for Suzuka stating that “This circuit is so much better than the rest of them”.
Starting in P10 tomorrow is Lando Norris with his Mclaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo just behind him in P11 who sadly missed getting into Q3 by a narrow margin of 0.003.
Mick Schumacher who out-qualified his fellow HAAS driver Kevin Magnussen will start in P15 tomorrow alongside both Alfa Romeo’s with Bottas in P12 and Zhou in P14 with the Alpha Tauri of Tsunoda between them in P13.
Sadly, both Williams were put out in Q1 with Latifi starting last on the grid after setting a lap time of 1:31.511, while Alex Albon will start in P16. Also eliminated in Q1 were Gasly, Magnussen and Stroll who will start in P17, P18 and P19 respectively.
Due to an incident with Norris during qualifying Verstappen was called to the stewards where he received a reprimand, however he will keep pole position.