Max Verstappen Steals Pole Position from the McLarens

Q3 in Japan was a battle of the titans at the top of the table. Ultimately Max Verstappen went out late in the session which granted him a clear track ahead and enabled hime to secure pole position marginally by a hundredth of a second. However the problems still loom in the Red Bull camp. Yuki Tsunoda’s promotion to the parent team at Red Bull did not go to plan as both Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar out qualified Yuki Tsunoda. To make matters worse, both McLarens, Mercedes and Ferrari’s qualified in the top 10 leaving Red Bull as the odd ones out.

Isack Hadjar Impresses with Q3 entry

Hadjar continues to impress and improve as he acclimates to his Racing Bull. Jadjar appears to be in a world of his own and hasn’t shown any sign of nerves in his debut F1 season. He said, “Yesterday we had a great start to the weekend as I felt comfortable straight away in the car with quite a lot of pace. I wasn’t too happy this morning during FP3, but the team did a fantastic job making the right adjustments to the car, even throughout the session. In the afternoon during Q1, unfortunately, I felt some discomfort in the cockpit due to an issue with the seat belt, but at the end of that session, I jumped out of the car and the team were able to fix it, allowing me to have a smooth Q2 and Q3.

This definitely helped me a lot as I was able to be fully focused on my driving. Overall, I’m really happy about my performance and lap time until the last chicane, as sadly, I lost one tenth there. Tomorrow might be raining, so in this case, obviously, it would be a very different situation compared to today, especially starting in P7 with the big boys ahead of me. It will be a challenge, but it’s a good place to kick off the race from, and if we have a clean start, I think points may be on the table.”

Leclerc Shows Signs of Hope for Ferrari, Hamilton Still Struggles

Charles Leclerc beat out of the Mercedes by a hundredth of a second leading the Ferrari effort. I put everything into my best lap in Q3 and there was nothing more we could have got out of the car today,” said Leclerc. “P4 is not a satisfying result and we have to keep working to close the gap to McLaren and Red Bull, with the target of getting back to winning races. As a whole however, it has been a positive weekend so far. I feel a lot more comfortable in the car after the changes we made to the set-up yesterday, which also gave me confidence behind the wheel going into Qualifying.  I’m looking forward to seeing how it will feel in the race tomorrow, and depending on the weather conditions, to test this approach over a race distance.