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Red Bull driver Max Verstappen continued his ominous form in the qualifying sessions in 2024 as he claimed his fourth pole position in a row at the Japanese GP on Saturday at the Suzuka International Circuit.
The three-time world champion was pushed all the way by his teammate Sergio Perez, who missed out on the feat by a mere 0.066s and will join him on the front row.
Verstappen was the favorite going into the session as other teams looked a bit behind the world champions as compared to previous races.
Below is the starting grid for the Japanese GP on Suzuka:
1.Max Verstappen- Red Bull 1:28.197
2. Sergio Perez- Red Bull +0.066
3. Lando Norris - McLaren +0.292
4. Carlos Sainz - Ferrari +0.485
5. Fernando Alonso - Aston Martin +0.489
6. Oscar Piastri - McLaren +0.563
7. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes +0.569
8. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari +0.589
9. George Russell - Mercedes +0.811
10. Yuki Tsunoda - RB +1.216
11. Daniel Ricciardo - RB 1:29.472
12. Nico Hulkenberg - Haas 1:29.494
13. Valtteri Bottas - Sauber 1:29.593
14. Alex Albon - Williams 1:29.714
15. Esteban Ocon - Alpine 1:29.816
16. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin 1:30.024
17. Pierre Gasly - Alpine 1:30.119
18. Kevin Magnussen - Haas 1:30.131
19. Logan Sargeant - Williams 1:30.139
20. Zhou Guanyu - Sauber 1:30.143
Max Verstappen previews his chances of winning the Japanese GP
Max Verstappen has stated that he wasn't entirely satisfied with his long-run pace heading into the main race on Sunday as the race pace wasn't to his liking.
In his post-quali press conference, the Red Bull driver said:
"Yeah, I think so far I haven't been happy with my long runs. I think the pace wasn't what I would have liked. So it's a bit of a question mark going into tomorrow because looking at the long runs, especially Ferrari, they look very comfortable.
"So maybe they were not so quick over one lap today, but they were definitely fast in the long run. So we'll have to wait and see how that will evolve tomorrow in the race."
It will be interesting to see if any other team on the grid is able to step up and beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull for a second weekend in a row.
However, they will be wary of the Dutch driver as he was dominant at the Japanese GP last year and blew away the field by almost 20 seconds.
