Come rain or shine, Max is on cloud nine

SUZUKA - Max Verstappen put himself on course to wrap up a second successive Formula One title at the Japanese Grand Prix by beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to pole position in qualifying at the Suzuka circuit on Saturday.

The 25-year-old hustled his Red Bull around the popular figure-of-eight layout in 1min 29.304sec, beating closest rival Leclerc by just 0.010sec.

Carlos Sainz was 0.057sec off the pace in the other Ferrari in third.

Verstappen came under investigation for dangerous driving after appearing to swerve into the path of McLaren's Lando Norris but was let off with a reprimand.

Norris was forced to drive off the track and onto the grass to avoid contact and said he expected Verstappen to be penalised.

But replays showed the tail of the Red Bull stepping out, with stewards noting that Verstappen had just temporarily lost control of his car on cold tyres.

"It was incredible to drive here again, of course very happy to be on pole but just super happy to be back here," said the Dutchman, after taking the 18th pole of his career and the fifth this season.

On Sunday's race, he added: "Will be interesting with the weather, I'm quite confident we have a good car."

Verstappen leads Leclerc by 104 points in the overall standings and needs to score eight more than the Monaco driver to wrap up proceedings with four races remaining in the season after Sunday.

That means he will be the champion if he wins here for the first time while also recording the fastest lap, making him the 13th driver in F1 history to earn the title at Suzuka.

But with rain affecting Friday's practice session and threatening to hit again on Sunday, the race could be far from straightforward.

Should the runaway championship leader falter, Leclerc or Sainz are waiting to pounce and could deliver Ferrari their first Suzuka win since Michael Schumacher's 2004 triumph.

Verstappen had been the favourite for pole heading into the session after having set the fastest time in Saturday's final practice.

But Leclerc seemed on the verge of causing a last-gasp upset on his final flying lap as the reigning world champion, on provisional pole, did not appear to be improving on his earlier benchmark.

In the end it was not quite sufficient, with Verstappen's time just good enough for pole.

"I lost the tyres in the last sector, so lost some time," said Leclerc, who has started from pole nine times this season but won only thrice. "Let's wait and see the conditions, should be a fun race."

Verstappen's Red Bull teammate and winner the last time in Singapore, Sergio Perez, was fourth ahead of Alpine's Esteban Ocon.

Mercedes have enjoyed an unbeaten run at Suzuka stretching back to 2014 but that streak looks set to come to an end with Lewis Hamilton, the team's highest-placed driver, in sixth.

Alpine's Fernando Alonso was seventh ahead of George Russell, the Silver Arrows' other driver.

Sebastian Vettel, appearing at Suzuka for the last time as he prepares to retire at the end of the year, was ninth for Aston Martin, with Norris rounding out the top 10. Home hopeful Yuki Tsunoda, driving an F1 car in front of Japanese fans at Suzuka for the first time, was 13th.

Sunday's race will be the first held here since 2019, with the Japanese GP absent from the calendar for the last two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

REUTERS

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