Max Verstappen’s return to form in Suzuka was confirmed as he took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman’s emphatic 1:28.877s lap-time was 0.581s faster than second place Oscar Piastri, who impressed on his Suzuka debut for McLaren.
Lando Norris took third in the second McLaren with Charles Leclerc the first of the Ferraris in fourth.
Sergio Perez finished fifth in the second Red Bull, 0.773s back from teammate Verstappen and Carlos Sainz took sixth in the second Ferrari.
The two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished seventh and eighth respectively.
Home hero Yuki Tsunoda took ninth for AlphaTauri with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso maintaining his 100% Q3 record in 2023 with 10th.
Q1 was interrupted by a Red Flag caused by Logan Sargeant’s heavy impact with the wall at the final corner, on what would have been the Williams driver’s only timed lap.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:28.877 | |||
| 2 |
 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:29.458 | 0.581 | ||
| 3 |
 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:29.493 | 0.616 | ||
| 4 |
 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:29.542 | 0.665 | ||
| 5 |
 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1:29.650 | 0.773 | ||
| 6 |
 | Carlos Sainz Jr | Ferrari | 1:29.850 | 0.973 | ||
| 7 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:29.908 | 1.031 | ||
| 8 |
| George Russell | Mercedes | 1:30.219 | 1.342 | ||
| 9 |
 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 1:30.303 | 1.426 | ||
| 10 |
| Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:30.560 | 1.683 | ||
| 11 |
 | Liam Lawson | RB | ||||
| 12 |
 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | ||||
| 13 |
 | Alex Albon | Williams | ||||
| 14 |
| Esteban Ocon | Alpine | ||||
| 15 |
 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | ||||
| 16 |
 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | ||||
| 17 |
 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | ||||
| 18 |
 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | ||||
| 19 |
 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | ||||
| 20 |
 | Logan Sargeant | Williams |
