Max Verstappen produced a remarkable lap to beat both drivers and deliver a shock first pole position of the season. The Dutchman has not felt confident in his car all weekend but produced one of his very best qualifying laps to beat off all the competition.
And there was plenty of it, especially from the McLaren cars which have looked supreme on the Suzuka track. But and could only manage second and third place respectively and will work together to get the better of at the start of Sunday's race.
have been unable to match McLaren's pace so far this year and the surprise at Verstappen's pole position was evident in the team garage. When he crossed the line and leapt to the top of the timesheets, his mechanics punched the air and whooped with delight while race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said over the radio to his driver: "That is insane."
The result will have delighted chiefs ahead of their last home race as engine suppliers to Red Bull. From next season, the Japanese manufacturer will be working with midfield outfit .
was fourth fastest behind Verstappen and the two McLaren cars in the best result he could have hoped for. But his team-mate will have been disappointed to have managed only eighth place on the grid.
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All eyes were on the swapped Red Bull drivers but both made it through the first phase of qualifying without a hitch. was comfortably through to Q2 while , back at junior outfit Racing Bulls, also snuck through to progress from Q1 for the first time this year.
That came at the expense of Nico Hulkenberg who joined his Sauber team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto in the bottom five. The latter will have been happy to have simply survived a terrifying moment earlier in the day when he very nearly span while driving flat out on approach to the fearsome 130R corner, which prompted the Brazilian rookie to swear in terror over the radio.
Jack Doohan was another rookie in the bottom five, down in 19th after his own huge crash in practice on Friday. He was one place below a disappointed Esteban Ocon but ahead of Lance Stroll who was dead last on the timesheets having gone off track on his final flying lap and failed to improve his time.
Grass fires have been a theme of the weekend so far and Q2 was red flagged as yet more flames appeared, this time on the inside of 130R. The dry grass at Suzuka has proven to be susceptible to the problem despite the best efforts of the marshals to drench the sides of the tracks with water.
The latest blaze caused a small delay to proceedings on Saturday. Tsunoda may have bettered Lawson's record in qualifying as a Red Bull Racing driver my making it to Q2, but he was 15th and behind the Kiwi on the grid after appearing to have been impeded on his final flying lap which cost him a significant chunk of time.
Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz were the others who failed to make the top 10. The Spaniard, however, faces an almost certain grid drop for clearly getting in the way of Hamilton at the end of Q2, failing to move off the racing line as the Ferrari approached while on a flying lap.
Piastri was at the top of the timesheets after the first runs in Q3 and it seemed another McLaren pole position was inevitable. But not only did Norris leapfrog his team-mate but both were beaten to the first grid slot by Verstappen who admitted he pushed "over the limit" at times to achieve that result.
Full 2025 Japanese Grand Prix qualifying result*Sainz under investigation for impeding Hamilton and faces potential grid penalty.
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