FORMULA 1
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 Credit: Peter Fox A phenomenal lap from four-time reigning champion Max Verstappen who took pole position for Sunday's Japanese Grand, for the fourth successive year at Suzuka. Verstappen had taken pole position and won from pole in the last three trips to Suzuka, now the Red Bull has made it four. The Dutchman also has set a new lap record at Suzuka with a 1:26.983. The reigning world champion took pole by a very narrow margin and surprised both McLaren drivers to set a lap time faster than them. There was a tight gap between the top three as Lando Norris would qualify, 0.012 behind Verstappen. Meanwhile, Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri qualified in third place, just half a tenth off the pole time of Verstappen. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Mercedes' George Russell completed the top five. How qualifying unfolded for the 2025 Japanese Grand PrixSaturday in Suzuka brought around qualifying day for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix. With 18 races out of 34 at Suzuka being won from pole position, getting it could be very significant for whichever of the 20 drivers would take it. After a weekend that failed to have the ideal amount of track time in the three Free Practice sessions due to various incidents. Six red flags had appeared across the three hours of running that the teams and drivers had at the start of the weekend, but with Free Practice 2 and Free Practice 3 being heavily disrupted, the session had a sense of unpredictability about it. As for who ended the practice sessions quickest, it was domination for McLaren as Lando Norris topped the first and third practice sessions, while Oscar Piastri topped the second practice session. Many eyes of the Suzuka Circuit would be focused on home hero Yuki Tsunoda, who would be having his debut weekend with the Red Bull Racing team and going into qualifying he would have a lot of support from his home crowd. Could he do the unthinkable and take pole?
The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and would begin Q1 at Suzuka. The two Haas cars with their special blossom liveries, would be out first, with drivers Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman. When the benchmark was laid down from Charles Leclerc, he was soon beaten as the McLaren of Lando Norris comfortably jumped up to first place on the timing pages with a 1:28.233 - three tenths clear of Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton would use the medium tyre on his first run, to test the pace of the C2 compound. However, the pace would be way off what he and Ferrari may have been hoping for and therefore would go for the soft C3 compound instead. Oscar Piastri, who took his maiden pole position in China last time out, would go fastest in Q1 and ahead of his teammate Norris. Piastri set a 1:28.143 as George Russell split both McLaren cars to go second fastest for Mercedes. Haas' Oliver Bearman put in a stunning lap to go fifth fastest in attempt to get out of Q1 for the first time in a Grand Prix qualifying, in 2025. With less than five minutes to go the drivers at risk would be Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Antonelli, Isack Hadjar and Lance Stroll. Soon enough and time would be up at the end of Q1! Oscar Piastri would end up with an improved lap time of 1:27.687 and it would be a tenth clear of the improved lap times of Russell and Norris. Eliminated from the session would be the two Kick Sauber cars of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg as well as Jack Doohan, Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll. The other 15 would progress through to Q2.
Q2 would begin with a green light on at the end of the pit lane with the drivers heading onto the circuit in an attempt to make it through into the top 10 shootout (Q3). Red Bull would be out on circuit first with reigning champion Max Verstappen onto the track first. It would be Verstappen who would be the one to lay down a benchmark lap for the other top contenders to beat. The rest would have to look to beat the 1:27.502 that Verstappen had laid down. Championship leader Lando Norris would do just that by going fastest by quite a distance. A stunning attempt from Norris would see him go three tenths clear of Verstappen by setting a 1:27.146. Incredible from the McLaren man! The only red flag of the entire qualifying would arrive in Q2 shortly after Norris' effort. Grass had caught fire on the exit of the iconic 130R corner and therefore as a safety course of action, Race Control decided to red flag the session while the fire was put out. With just over eight minutes remaining, the session would be back underway with the Ferrari cars being the most eager to get out on track. Lewis Hamilton would lead out his teammate Charles Leclerc onto the Suzuka Circuit. Both Hamilton and Leclerc would improve to go fifth and fourth respectively. However, the pair would still be four tenths off the time that saw Norris remain in first position. Before long, the chequered flag would be out and only drivers on their flying laps could improve and set a personal bests in attempts to make the final part of qualifying. Norris, Russell and Verstappen as the top three would remain unchanged. Eliminated at his home Grand Prix would be Yuki Tsunoda and most devastatingly for him, he got out-qualified by Liam Lawson at VCARB - the guy Tsunoda replaced at Red Bull Racing. Lawson would be 14th and Tsunoda would be 15th and both would be eliminated as in just his third qualifying, Isack Hadjar made it through to Q3 for the second time. Lawson and Tsunoda joined Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly in being eliminated from Q2. An incident during qualifying between Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz would be referred to the Stewards for an investigation with Sainz having impeded Hamilton. Sainz would be awarded a three-place grid penalty by the Stewards. Q3 Credit: Andy Hone The 10 remaining drivers in the hunt for pole position, in round three of the 2025 Formula One World Championship with seven of the 10 Constructors having an appearance in Q3. Haas' Oliver Bearman, who had made it through to Q3 for the first time in 2025, was the first driver out onto the circuit in the session. George Russell went to provisional pole initially with the benchmark lap time. The rest had to aim to beat a 1:27.318. The Mercedes driver had a very strong session arriving into Q3 as a high contender for pole position or to upset the McLaren duo who were favourites. Oscar Piastri would be the man to take provisional pole position with a fantastic lap. He would take the new lap record with time in the session to go. A 1:27.052 for Piastri, which was two tenths clear of Max Verstappen who would go second. Norris was down in fifth after the first runs! Then it was time for the final laps of the session and it was set to be a fantastic battle with Norris, Piastri, Verstappen and Russell all in search of improvements. An excellent lap from Lando saw him go onto provisional pole and take the lap record away from his Papaya teammate Piastri. A 1:26.995 for Norris looked to have sealed it but Verstappen would have a say in the matter. Three times a pole sitter in the most three recent Japanese Grand Prix in Formula One in the last three seasons of 2022, 2023 and 2024. He had the chance to make it four successive poles at Suzuka and took the opportunity! Verstappen pulled a lap that no one saw coming and took pole position away from Norris, his championship rival and took a new lap record around Suzuka with it too! A 1:26.983 for Verstappen saw him take his first pole position since the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix! An incredibly long time since Verstappen was last on pole position but that unlikely drought had come to an end. Verstappen had taken his 41st pole position and his fourth in succession around the infamous Suzuka Circuit. Verstappen, Norris and Piastri would be separated by half a tenth of a second and would be the top three for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc and George Russell would complete the top five. Andrea Kimi Antonelli secured his best qualifying in Formula One with a sixth place finish. The Italian would be above Isack Hadjar, who qualified seventh for the second Grand Prix in a row and at a second brand new circuit for the Frenchman in succession. A disappointment for Lewis Hamilton as the Brit qualified eighth for the second time in three Grand Prix. Alex Albon and Oliver Bearman completed the top 10 in Q3. Next up in Formula One is Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix with an unpredictable weather forecast and an incredibly competitive grid. 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship: Round 3 - Japanese Grand Prix provisional classification
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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