Kimi Antonelli made it back-to-back pole positions with a dominant qualifying performance at Suzuka. The Mercedes teenager made sure he will be the one to start Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix at the very front of the grid while team-mate George Russell at least managed to secure the front-row lockout for the Silver Arrows despite managing problems on his car.
That perhaps opened the door to Antonelli but he may not have even needed that help, having looked very confident in Friday practice and continued that on qualifying day. Clearly emboldened by his maiden Grand Prix victory last time out in Shanghai, he will now be out to repeat the trick at Suzuka on Sunday.
Oscar Piastri completed the top three as a Charles Leclerc mistake on his final run cost him a shot at disturbing the Mercedes drivers at the head of the field. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen wasn’t even participating in Q3 after a shock exit in the middle part of qualifying.
Q1 brought an early shock as Oliver Bearman, usually a strong and consistent qualifying, found himself in the bottom six. A strong start to the season has seen the Haas star score 17 point to rise to fifth in the drivers’ championship, but he has his work cut out to add to that tally from 18th on the grid at Suzuka on Sunday.
The second part of qualifying brought an even bigger upset when Verstappen failed to make it through to the shootout for pole. He looked on course to narrowly scrape through, until Arvid Lindblad put in a very fine lap to ensure he, aged 18, would make it to Q3 on his first attempt at qualifying for an F1 race at the technical and demanding Suzuka circuit.
After it was confirmed he would not progress, Verstappen fumed to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase over the radio: “I think there’s something wrong with the car, mate. It’s completely undriveable suddenly in this qualifying. Jumping on high speed in the rear, suddenly.”
Tenth ended up being Lindblad’s best as Isack Hadjar managed eighth on the grid to outqualify Verstappen for the second time in three races as the Dutchman’s Red Bull team-mate. Pierre Gasly was impressive with another Q3 appearance for Alpine while Leclerc had to settle for fourth on the grid because of a big snap at Spoon Curve which ruined his final push for pole.