Verstappen crushes the competition in Japan qualifying

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen shook off the bad performance from Singapore and showed once again his true pace this year. The future three-time world champion demolished the competition in Japan Grand Prix qualifying session, finishing 0.581 seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri, who will start from front row tomorrow.

The first session was stopped because Logan Sargent crashed into the walls and the marshals had to repair the track safety area.

In the final 10 minutes Verstappen was flying, leaving his colleagues no chance to take the pole from his hands. His last hot lap was the only one under 1 minute and 29 seconds – 1.28.877.

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Max Verstappen’s pole lap at Suzuka, +0.581 ahead of P2, is the largest pole margin since Michael Schumacher, 2004 (+0.490) pic.twitter.com/GojznUBtVZ

— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) September 23, 2023

Piastri and Lando Norris with McLaren will be second and third on Sunday, while both Ferraris with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were divided by Checo Perez with the second Red Bull.