F1 Japan: Max Verstappen on pole, Carlos Sainz on second row. Saturday-no for Charles Leclerc

Max Verstappen on pole at Suzuka

For the fourth time in as many F1 Grand Prix in this 2024 it will be Max Verstappen who will start in front of everyone: the Dutchman of Red Bull has in fact won the pole position of the Japanese GP in Suzuka, in the Italian morning on Saturday, anticipating by only 66 thousandths his teammate, the Mexican Sergio Perez.

Scatterà from the third position Lando Norris, McLaren’s British driver, while to find the first Ferrari one has to look at the fourth box of Sunday’s starting grid, from which Carlos Sainz, recent winner of the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit, will start.

On the third row will be Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Oscar Piastri, Norris’ teammate at McLaren. Seventh is Lewis Hamilton, the first of the two Mercedes drivers, who will start ahead of Charles Leclerc. It was a difficult day for Ferrari’s Monegasque, struggling with a disappointing FP3 session (with an accompanying team radio in which he demanded an explanation from the race wall for, according to him, staying in the pits for too long) and a qualifying session that did not see him go beyond the eighth-best time in Q3.

From ninth place on the grid are George Russell (Mercedes), Yuki Tsunoda (RB), Daniel Ricciardo (RB), Nico Hulkenberg (Haas), Valtteri Bottas (Kick Sauber), Alex Albon (Williams), Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Pierre Gasly (Alpine), Kevin Magnussen (Haas), Logan Sargeant (Williams) and Guanyu Zhou (Kick Sauber).