This time he had to earn pole position: Max Verstappen earned his fourth pole start of the season in the Japanese GP with a time of 1'28″197 which is almost seven tenths faster than last year. The Dutchman, However, he was undermined by Sergio Perez who, with a perfect lap, managed to get to just 66 thousandths, giving conviction to those who would like to extend his contract for next year too.
Red Bull monopolizes the front row of 2024 with some ease, but the RB20 is superlative in the flying lap, while it showed doubts in the long run suffering from unexpected understeer. Verstappen collects the 36th pole of his career, but he is not the type to be satisfied with just being at the front on the starting grid.
It's worth saying because the two drivers in the second row could have a very interesting pace in the race: Lando Norris is third with McLaren with an excellent 1'28″489. The Englishman knows how to invent the lap with his talent, but the feeling is that the MCL36 is growing. The confirmation comes from Oscar Piastri, sixth, two tenths behind Lando. The Enstone team will be fearsome in the race, even if the “papaya” single-seater was not as consistent in the race simulation as the Ferrari.
And, then, the real threat from Red Bull could be Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard is fourth with a gap of almost a second. The Scuderia worked for the race and perhaps penalized the qualifying too much, but the SF-24 seemed to be the best single-seater in race simulation. The Madrilenian was good at exploiting the potential he had available, while Charles Leclerc was disappointing only eighth in the second red.
The Monegasque is definitely in difficulty with the SF-24: the gap of more than half a second from Max, which places him between the two Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, testifies that Charles has not yet understood how the red car should be driven. The Ferrari driver was forced to use two sets of soft tires in Q1 to ensure he made the cut, so he was left with just one set in Q3. Leclerc rightly made his attempt mid-session, to avoid the risk of a red flag.
Ferrari didn't inspire on Saturday, but the points are on Sunday: Sainz is aware that he has a good opportunity tomorrow, while Leclerc's position is decidedly more complex. Once again the Monegasque influenced his race already in qualifying.
We were talking about Lewis Hamilton in seventh who had the pleasure of staying ahead of George Russell with a W15 still far behind the leaders. Yuki Tsunoda with Racing Bulls performed his miracle by entering Q3 to capitalize on an excellent tenth place, but the real protagonist was Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard is sometimes questionable for certain attitudes, but when he drives he proves to be an integral champion: the Asturian received Aston Martin's new aerodynamic package only this morning, given that the first example had been reserved for Lance Stroll.
Fernando brought the “verdona” to fifth position, but he could have attacked the second row, given that he arrived within 4 thousandths of Sainz's Ferrari.
Daniel Ricciardo does not enter Q3 with Racing Bull: the Australian pays only 55 thousandths of a second from the little Japanese, but it is enough to remain in 11th position, suffering a drastic 4 to 0 with Yuki Tsunoda. The Faenza car is followed by Nico Hulkenberg who saw his time canceled due to track limits in the first run of Q2. With his last remaining attempt, the German settled in 12th place with the Haas, gaining the maximum with the VF-24.
Finally a positive qualifying for Valtteri Bottas: the Finn climbed to 13th place thanks to a lap he invented on a track like Suzuka which has always exalted him, going beyond the limits of Sauber. If he wants he is still capable of pulling out his claws.
Esteban Ocon is 14th with Williams: the Anglo-Thai did his part by taking the FW44 to Q2: nothing more could have been asked of him with a car in difficulty in Japan. Esteban Ocon's performance was also excellent, placing the best Alpine in 15th position: the Q2 bonus, however, is thanks to the driver rather than the growth of the car. And in Enstone they have to worry…
The exclusion of Lance Stroll already in Q1 is sensational: the Canadian is only 16th with the Asron Martin which at Suzuka debuted the new aerodynamics that allowed Alonso to… fly. The gap of eight tenths in the first fraction compared to his teammate shows that the Canadian has not found the feeling with the important update of the “verdona”.
Pierre Gasly is 18th with Alpine: the Frenchman did everything he could to stay out of the last row, but struggled to find confidence in the car, compared to what Esteban Ocon managed to do.
12 thousandths of a second behind the A524 is Kevin Magnussen with the Haas, while Logan Sargeant is content to start the GP with the Williams with the chassis banged up in free practice: the American, however, did better than Guanyu Zhou who failed to prime the tires of his Sauber.
#Red #Bull #front #row #Suzuka #Sainz #hopes #fourth #race
