F1 Japanese GP: Max Verstappen pips Charles Leclerc to pole position and escapes grid penalty
The Red Bull driver was investigated for an incident involving McLaren’s 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lando Norris during Q3 but escꦍaped with a🍃 reprimand so the grid will not change.
Verstappen, who 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:can seal a second world titl💛e on Sunday at Suzuka, was just 0.010s faster than nearest rival Leclerc as he topped qual🍸ifying for just the fifth time this season.&n🌄bsp;
The Dutchm𒁏an’s opening lap - which put him 0.253s clear of Leclerc - proved good enough to seal pole as he failed tꦛo improve on his final run.
Leclerc did find time but a slight mistake i꧙n the second sector proved th🎶e difference as he narrowly missed out on a 10th pole of 2022.
Verstappen will have to make a trip to the st♌ewards’ office after qualifying, however, 🍎following a near-miss with Norris as both drivers prepared to start laps.
Norris was forced to take💙 to the grass at the flat-out 130R🦋 in order to avoid the Red Bull driver, with Verstappen losing his rear end when crawling on an out-lap.
The top three were covered by just 0.057s as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had to settle ꦦfor third, ahead of Sergio Perez, who was four-tenths slower than his Red Bull teammate.
Esteban Ocon turned in a great lap to take sixth in h🐠is Alpine, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who was nearly a full sꦡecond down in sixth as Mercedes struggled for pace in dry conditions.
Alpine’s 💯Fernando Alonso split the Mercedes driverཧs in seventh ahead of Russell.
A brilliant performance from four-time Japanese GP pole sitter Sebastian Vettel saw the Aston Martin driver𒀰 seal ninth spot on the grid, ahead of Norris who completed the top-10.
McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo was just 0.003s shy of advancing into the top-10 shoot🐻out, while Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas took 12th.
Home-hero Yuki Tsunღoda was a frustrated 13th for AlphaTaur🦹i as he outpaced the second Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu and Haas’ Mick Schumacher.
Alex Albon narrowly missed out👍 on a spot in Q2 as he took 16th in his Williams, ahead of Alpine-bound Pierre Gasly, whose AlphaTauri was hampered by brake issues.
Kevin Magnussen failed to join Haas teammate Schumacher i🍌n progressing to the second part of qualifying and could only set a lap good enough for 18th.
Behind the Dane came Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and outgoing Williams driver Nicholas Latifi, who was slowest of all in 20th. ๊;
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