- McLaren have set the standard on track so far in the 2025 Formula One season
- Max Verstappen produced a performance that engineers described as ‘insane’
- Lewis Hamilton was once again left frustrated as his Ferrari car lacked pace
Max Verstappen overcame doubts about his car to produce a scintillating lap and claim pole position for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
All the talk so far in 2025 has been about McLaren’s dominance, but the Dutchman fired out a reminder of his own title credentials by pipping Lando Norris to pole.
Verstappen seemed to surprise himself with the lap he managed to produce on a weekend when Red Bull have generally struggled for pace.
Earlier in the day, during third practice, Verstappen complained about the lack of grip in his front tyres.
But he managed to put those complaints to one side to secure pole at Suzuka for the fourth year running.
Max Verstappen produced a new lap record to take pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix
Engineers were left to marvel at Verstappen’s ‘insane’ final lap to beat both McLaren drivers
It was a timely reminder from F1 world champion Verstappen (left) to McLaren’s young guns
Verstappen said: ‘We tried the best we could to get the best possible balance of the car. Every session we kept on making little improvements and that’s what made the difference.’
Early championship pacesetter Norris was just 0.012seconds behind Verstappen but conceded his rival had produced a special lap.
‘Congrats to Max, he did a good job,’ said Norris, whose team-mate, Oscar Piastri will start third. ‘I’m happy, I feel like I got everything out of the car today.’
It was a bad day, however, for Lewis Hamilton who could only qualify eighth, only two spots ahead of young Brit Oliver Bearman, who made it out of Q3 for the first time this season.
Meanwhile, Liam Lawson responded to his demotion from Red Bull after only two races of the 2025 season by out-qualifying Yuki Tsunoda, the man who has taken his seat.
Tsunoda had been keeping touch with his new team-mate Verstappen, but his pace disappeared in Q2. He will start 15th with Lawson one place further ahead.
