By Robert Haile
Max Verstappen has claimed his fourth pole position of the season as Red Bull complete the front row with Sergio Perez.
The three time world champion continued his perfect start to qualifying as he beat his teammate by 0.066 seconds.
Championship leader Verstappen said: “Overall, in qualifying the laps have been very nice and it was a great result for the Team.
“In the last lap I tried to push a bit more and I was gaining quite nicely in sector one, but ran out of tyres at the end so lost a bit of time which was a shame.
“We have to work on our long runs as we have not been fully happy with these and still feel like we can work to control the balance of the car a bit more.
“It wasn’t perfect, but to still be on pole on a lap that I felt like could have been better, is great. We made some good changes within the car and I really enjoyed sector one; around here it is really fun to drive and the car is improving every year, especially in the high speed.
“All in all, the Team has a front row start which is a perfect start to the race tomorrow, but I expect it to be very competitive.
“It is great to be here, the support is always amazing and hopefully we can give the fans a good race.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris took third place as the British team continue to push their way into the top three with outgoing Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz highlighting his quality with a fourth place start.
Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin beat out McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to fifth as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton starts seventh next to future Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
George Russell currently starts ninth for Mercedes but could head further back after a pit lane incident with Piastri was put under investigation while Yuki Tsunoda starts tenth for RB at his home Grand Prix.
RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a spot in the top ten as Tsunoda went faster leaving him in eleventh after he had gone faster than Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg.
Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas starts in thirteenth with Williams’ Alex Albon fourteenth and Esteban Ocon taking fifteenth for Alpine.
Lance Stroll made a surprise exit in the first qualifying round for Aston Martin in sixteenth as Pierre Gasly’s qualifying woes for Alpine left him seventeenth.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen starts eighteenth with Logan Sargeant’s Williams and Zhou Guanyu’ Kick Sauber completing the back row.
The Japanese Grand Prix starts at 6 am GMT on Sunday, April 7.
Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
- Lando Norris (McLaren)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- George Russell (Mercedes)
- Yuki Tsunoda (RB)
- Daniel Ricciardo (RB)
- Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
- Vallteri Bottas (Kick Sauber)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
- Logan Sargeant (Williams)
- Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber)
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