Three-time champion Verstappen in pole position at the Japanese Formula 1 GP – Observer

Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) won this Saturday the pole position for the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prixfourth race of the World Championship, completing the races already contested.

Verstappen spent 1.28.197 minutes on his best lap, leaving his teammate, the Mexican Sérgio Pérez (Red Bull), in second place, just 0.066 seconds, with the British Lando Norris (McLaren) in third, at 0.269.

“It was a very tight finish. This circuit is very sensitive for the tires, with very aggressive asphalt. But, overall, it was a good day and we have a starting position for the race”, highlighted the three-time world champion, after a qualifying session in which he did not exert as intense dominance as usual.

In fact, Max Verstappen won all four pole positions for the four races this season, reaching 36 in his career, in 188 Grands Prix (a percentage higher than 19%), five in a row, counting the last race of last season. , in Abu Dhabi.

This time, the Dutch pilot stayed with Sérgio Pérez at just 66 thousandths of a second.

“It’s good for the team to put both cars in the first two places and we hope we can do it again tomorrow [no domingo] in the race”, said Verstappen.

After his victory in Australia two weeks ago, Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) was now no further than fourth on the starting grid, almost half a second behind the fastest (0.485 seconds), with his compatriot Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin ) right behind, just four thousandths of a second away.

Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren) was sixth, followed by the first of the Mercedes, whose evolution in this season’s body design has not brought the expected results.

The British Lewis Hamilton was, for the first time this year in qualifying, the best of the ‘silver arrows’, in seventh position, while his teammate and compatriot, George Russell, did no better than ninth place, behind by Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), beaten again by Sainz.

Japanese Yuki Tsunoda (RB), racing at home, rounded out the top 10 fastest. The Japanese Grand Prix is ​​the fourth round of the season.

Despite having withdrawn from the previous round, in Australia, with brake problems on his Red Bull, Verstappen arrives at this race leading the championship, with 51 points, four more than Leclerc, who is second, and five more than Pérez, which is third. The three-time world champion won two of the three races contested, while Sainz celebrated in Australia.