QUALIFYING

“RED BULL COULD HANDLE THE HIGH DOWNFORCE WHILE THE HONDA WOULD BE COMPETITIVE IN THE FINAL SECTOR”

The way Max Verstappen changed tack after qualifying was more than a little amusing. He’d prompted Lando Norris to take evasive action out of the famous 130R bend when, while weaving to put heat into the tyres before a hot lap in Q3, the Dutchman’s heavy right foot caused the Red Bull to snap sideways. A quick-reacting Norris headed for the grass to avoid a nasty shunt. Soon after, Verstappen pulled alongside the Mclaren and held his hand up by way of an apology.

That acknowledgement of guilt wasn’t enough for the stewards, and Verstappen was placed under investigation. So, to pre-emptively clear his name, the Red Bull driver instead went on the attack, as though he were a pupil devising an excuse before being dragged in front of the headmaster. “If you’re just a bit more respectful…” he said. “I don’t think anyone is trying to pass into that last chicane. By trying to pass me, you create that kind of problem.”

It took 90 minutes for Verstappen to escape without a penalty, instead copping a reprimand for ‘temporarily losing control’. Regardless, what mattered is that his fifth pole position of the season stood.

A sodden Friday meant the teams had to assess all three slick compounds in FP3, so proper qualifying simulations were rare. As such, there was no clear gauge of form, just the educated guess that, as at Spa, the Red Bull chassis could handle the high downforce needed to excel at Suzuka, while the rebadged Honda engine would be ultra-strong through the high-speed final sector.

That turned out to be true.

Verstappen dashed round in

1m29.304s midway through

Q3, didn’t improve on his final flier, and yet still claimed pole. On his last go, he ran wide over the kerbs to shed carbonfibre that hurt him in the first and last sectors, so he ran slower overall. But both Ferraris cooked their rear Pirellis in the opening half of the lap so couldn’t neatly put the power down through the final chicane.

Verstappen escaped with a slender 0.01s in hand, while Charles Leclerc – who had struggled to tame the twitching Ferrari throughout practice – managed to pip his team-mate. The fastest middle sector of anyone guaranteed that as Carlos Sainz ran 0.057s off the pace. “I overcooked a tyre going into that last chicane and it cost me lap time – I’m a bit fed up of being half a tenth off pole,” reckoned the Spaniard.

Sergio Perez, meanwhile, held his usual station four tenths adrift of his stablemate, while the draggy Mercedes could only muster sixth (Lewis Hamilton) and eighth (George Russell).