SUZUKA: World champion Max Verstappen took pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix on Saturday, stunning the McLarens with a late flying lap to put his Red Bull at the front of the grid for the fourth year in a row at Suzuka.

The McLarens of championship leader Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have dominated qualifying so far this season and looked like doing so again until Verstappen conjured up a lap record of one minute 26.983 seconds at the end of the session.

Briton Norris was 0.012 seconds behind and will start on the front row beside the Dutchman, while Australian Piastri, who won in China two weeks ago, will be on the second row alongside Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

“A lot of happiness when I crossed the line,” said four-times world champion Verstappen, who has won from pole at Suzuka for the last three years.

“The whole qualifying, we just kept on just trying to improve the situation a bit, and then the final lap was very good. I think if you look at how our season started, even during this weekend, I think it’s very unexpected. I think that makes it a very special one.”

It was Verstappen’s 41st pole but a first since the Austrian Grand Prix in June last year, although he was fastest in qualifying later in the season in Qatar only to be handed a one-place penalty.

The McLarens have started the season in rampant form, with Norris winning the opener in Melbourne and Piastri leading him in a one-two finish in Shanghai.

Norris said the team would “do our homework tonight” to try and break Verstappen’s Suzuka stranglehold.

“It’s probably going to be a bit of a race like Melbourne, and that was an exciting race for everyone,” said the Briton. “But now I’ve got to try and do some overtakes, so we’ll see. It’s exciting.”

Leclerc was fourth ahead of Mercedes duo George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with RB’s Isack Hadjar seventh.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was eighth, followed by Williams’s Alex Albon and Haas’ Oliver Bearman.

Despite preventative measures being employed by organisers, the action was stopped for the fifth time in two days by a trackside grass fire in the second qualifying session.

“I think with the rain overnight, I don’t think it will be as big a problem tomorrow,” said Piastri.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2025