Roundup of FP3 and Qualifying as Max Verstappen clinched a dominant pole position for 2023 Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen comfortably dominated both sessions ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris who proved to be his closest challengers.
Ferrari and Mercedes meanwhile struggled to mount much competitive pace to match McLaren as the second-best team, on a day when AlphaTauri confirmed their driver line-up for next season.
FP3
A quiet start to the session saw nobody venture out in the opening five minutes before Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc took to the track on soft tyres, from which Sainz set a benchmark 1m 32.003 which was bettered by Leclerc by 0.038 seconds.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri displaced the pair with 1m 31.891 in the 13th minute only for his teammate – Lando Norris to go even faster with 1m 31.174, which was only bettered by Verstappen who posted 1m 30.960 in the 21st minute.
Several drivers meanwhile focused upon long running amidst brief brake issues for Liam Lawson and Alex Albon on the hot track, which meant that Verstappen headed Norris and Leclerc at the halfway mark.
Once attention switched to Qualifying simulations in the final 20 minutes, Piastri was the first to beat Verstappen’s time as he posted 1m 30.555 in the 43rd minute, before Norris went 0.048s quicker a minute later as the McLaren pair were the only drivers to better Verstappen’s first flier.
Verstappen however ultimately topped the session with 1m 30.267 set eight minutes from the checkered flag, as only he, Norris and Piastri got into the 1m 30s range ahead of Sergio Perez and Leclerc.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 30.267 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.240 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.288 |
| 4 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.737 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.755 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.870 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.892 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.238 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.282 |
| 10 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.401 |
| 11 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.432 |
| 12 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.613 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.657 |
| 14 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.684 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.712 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.735 |
| 17 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | + 1.781 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.846 |
| 19 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.887 |
| 20 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.932 |
Qualifying
Q1
Stroll was first out on track and immediately set 1m 32.246 as the benchmark but Lawson led a queue of drivers who bettered the Canadian’s lap time, as Verstappen went quickest with 1m 29.878 ahead of Norris by just 0.185s.
The session however was red flagged with nine minutes and five seconds on the clock after Sargeant suffered a snap of oversteer upon exit of the final corner, which sent him sliding into the barriers.
Leclerc, Sainz, Bottas, Hulkenberg, Albon and Gasly hadn’t set a lap time when the session was halted, with only the Ferrari pair amongst the first drivers back out on track alongside Lawson once the session resumed 13 minutes later.
Bottas, Hulkenberg, Albon and Gasly meanwhile decided to hang back and do their sole flying lap of Q1 at the end of the session, as several drivers headed back out for a final flier.
As the checkered flag fell, only Albon and Gasly survived out of the quartet who left their laps until the end as Zhou qualified second slowest and joins Sargeant on the back row, behind Hulkenberg who could only manage 18th on the grid with Stroll and Bottas ahead of him.
Verstappen and Norris meanwhile finished Q1 as the fastest drivers ahead of Leclerc and Lawson, who had left his improvement until his final lap to put his AlphaTauri fourth despite being snubbed for a race seat next season.
Q2
Verstappen was first out on track and immediately set the benchmark time on used soft tyres of 1m 29.964 on his first flying lap of the session to head Piastri and Norris.
Once everyone except Magnussen – who opted for one flying lap in Q2 – had set a representative lap time, the elimination zone compromised of; Alonso, Ocon, Gasly, Albon and Magnussen, although Albon did his second lap in the gap which lifted him up to seventh at Lawson’s expense.
Once the checkered flag fell, only Alonso survived by just 0.043s from Lawson who qualified 11th ahead of Gasly, Albon, Ocon and Magnussen, whilst Leclerc topped Q2 with 1m 29.940 on a fresh set of soft tyres.
Q3
Like in Q2, Verstappen was first out on track and set the benchmark pole time of 1m 29.012 ahead of Piastri and Norris who were the only drivers to get within one second of the two-time champion.
Russell sat fourth ahead of Perez, Alonso Hamilton and Tsunoda as Leclerc and Sainz instead opted to run at the end of the session.
Verstappen however lowered his pole time to 1m 28.877 ahead of Piastri, Norris, Leclerc, Perez, Sainz, Hamilton, Russell, Tsunoda and Alonso.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 28.877 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.581 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.616 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.665 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.773 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.973 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.031 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.342 |
| 9 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.426 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.683 |
| 11 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | 1m 30.508 |
| 12 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.001 |
| 13 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.029 |
| 14 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.078 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.157 |
| 16 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | 1m 31.049 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.132 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.250 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 0.349 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | No Time |
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