Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren lost pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix to Max Verstappen, who pulled off a stunning shock.
Throughout the weekend, it seemed that McLaren, whose drivers shared a pole and won each of the first two rounds of the 2025 season, would simply earn the pole, but Verstappen of Red Bull surprised everyone by overtaking them.
The top three were separated by less than half a tenth of a second after Verstappen's time of 1:26.983 gave him a fourth consecutive Suzuka pole. Piastri was obviously fastest on the initial laps in Q3, and then Norris seemed to have claimed pole with his second try.
The four-time world champion's new teammate Yuki Tsunoda only managed 15th on his Red Bull debut, finishing a position below Liam Lawson, the driver he traded places with from junior outfit Racing Bulls, underscoring the extraordinary nature of Verstappen's achievement.
The response from the Red Bull garage further emphasized Verstappen's lap's genius. Christian Horner, the team principal, called it "unbelievable," while his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase called it "insane."
As the seven-time world champion's tumultuous start to life with the Italian team continued, Lewis Hamilton finished a disappointing eighth, three-tenths behind his teammate Charles Leclerc, who finished fourth for Ferrari.
George Russell of Mercedes had looked the most likely to threaten the McLarens heading into qualifying, but he made a mistake on his final flying lap and had to settle for fifth place. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, his new teammate, took a positive sixth.
Isack Hadjar, rookie with the Racing Bulls, overcame apparent seat-belt problems that caused him much anguish over the radio early in the session to finish seventh.
Oliver Bearman, a British rookie, finished in the top 10 after putting up a really strong effort for Haas to advance to Q3, while Alex Albon finished ninth for Williams.
Carlos Sainz will start Sunday's race from 15th place after earning a three-place grid penalty for impeding Hamilton during the second qualifying round. Sainz ended up qualifying in 12th place in the other Williams.
WHAT HAPPENED IN QUALIFYING AT SUZUKA:
Q1
After the McLaren team of Norris and Piastri led the pace in the third and last practice session of the weekend, the paddock's focus turned to qualifying in order to determine the grid for the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.
When the session started at 1500 local time, the Haas duo of Bearman and Ocon led the field. With the exception of Hamilton, who was using the medium compound tire for his first lap, most of the field blasted on the soft tire for their first runs.
Ferrari's bet did not appear to have paid off, as Hamilton's lap was about nine-tenths slower than Norris's pace-setting performance. Following an early flying run by each of the 20 drivers, Piastri finished at the top of the timesheets with an effort of 1m 28.143s, five hundredths ahead of Russell. The top five were completed by Norris, Verstappen, and Leclerc.
Verstappen did not have an easy ride; the Dutchman reported that his tires in the Red Bull were "not gripping." Hadjar was also having problems; the Racing Bulls driver informed his engineer that he was having the "same issue" that had afflicted him in FP3, which appeared to be related to his seat belts.
With six minutes remaining, the Frenchman, Lawson, Alonso, Antonelli, and Stroll were all in the drop zone. He said that he was unable to concentrate and that his car was "not driveable."
Bearman, a rookie who moved up into P5 for Haas, appeared to be having a better day. Could the other newcomers to the sport, however, escape the danger zone? Hadjar returned to the track and told the team that his problem was still there, but Antonelli got better and slotted his Mercedes into P8.
Despite Hadjar's difficulties, the Racing Bulls driver rose to 12th place, and Lawson barely avoided relegation by finishing in 15th place. The Kick Saubers of Hulkenberg and Bortoleto were among the less fortunate names; they were eliminated in 16th and 17th place, respectively.
Doohan's challenging weekend continued when the Alpine driver could only manage P19, and Ocon also missed the cut in P18. Following a wide moment, Stroll ran through the gravel and finished the practice in a disappointing P20 for Aston Martin.
Q2
The World Champion appeared to have established the early pace with his first time on the board when the 15 remaining drivers took to the track for the second qualifying round. However, he was later ousted by the McLaren of Norris, which produced the fastest time of 1m 27.146s.
In second place was Russell, followed by Verstappen, Piastri (who lost time after running wide into the Degners), and Williams's striking Albon in fifth. Another tiny fire near the track's side caused the action to pause for a moment, putting drivers Sainz, Alonso, Bearman, Tsunoda, and Lawson in danger in the drop zone.
Having not yet set a time on new tires, the Ferrari
team of Hamilton and Leclerc were eager to get out on track when the practice restarted with little over eight minutes remaining. Meanwhile, the rest of the field appeared satisfied to wait it out in their garages.
Hamilton took fifth place as other drivers began to emerge for their last-ditch efforts, while Leclerc moved up into fourth place, telling his engineer that "the first sector was rubbish from me."
Before superior times from competitors like Bearman dropped the two-time World Champion to P13, Alonso improved to initially avoid the danger zone and push Lawson down in the process. During his first Red Bull qualifying, Gasly also left the race in P11, missing by less than two-hundredths of a second, followed by Sainz in P12, Lawson in P14, behind Alonso, and Tsunoda in P15.
After Sainz seemed to obstruct Hamilton's path, the Ferrari driver expressed his displeasure over the radio, and it was confirmed that a possible impeding incident would be looked into following the session. The Williams driver was then given a three-place grid penalty by the stewards.
Q3
As Q3 got started, the action picked up speed. Verstappen appeared to capture provisional pole, but Piastri quickly passed him to claim it with a lap time of 1m 27.052s, two tenths clear of the Red Bull.
Russell finished fourth, Norris finished fifth, and Leclerc finished third in the Ferrari. The Briton was about four tenths of a second behind his teammate when he ran a little wide at Turn 7. Hamilton, the seven-time World Champion, also had a slight decline, finishing in sixth place.
Russell appeared to have lost his opportunity to claim pole position when the Mercedes had a moment in the first corner, but Norris appeared to be unfazed and went quickest to take P1 as the focus shifted to the crucial closing laps.
However, Verstappen's charge to take pole position was unexpected. The Red Bull driver beat Norris by just over a hundredth of a second with an effort of 1m 26.983s. Leclerc finished fourth, ahead of the Mercedes drivers Russell and Antonelli, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively, while Piastri held onto third place.
While Hamilton finished P8 for Ferrari ahead of Albon and Bearman, the latter of whom had his best qualifying performance of the season thus far in the Haas, Hadjar finished the session in P7, outqualifying both his current teammate Lawson and his old teammate Tsunoda.
