After a tough weekend in Singapore, Pole Position looked to be Max Verstappen’s to lose heading into Qualifying around the highly rated Suzuka Circuit.
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, Nico Hulkenberg, Zhou Guanyu, and Logan Sargeant were the five slowest drivers. Alfa Romeo once again struggled for pace as Valtteri Bottas failed to make it into Q2 whilst Lance Stroll’s torrid run of form continued. The crazy thing is Lance was only just over two tenths behind his teammate which is where he probably should be. Nico Hulkenberg didn’t do a very good lap in his Haas whilst Zhou Guanyu was once again off the pace. Logan Sargeant finished last in Q1 after once again crashing out and it’s gotten to the point where I can’t see how he keeps his seat at Williams for 2024. Max Verstappen topped Q1 over McLaren’s Lando Norris by just under two tenths of a second.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon, Esteban Ocon, and Kevin Magnussen all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Liam Lawson was slightly compromised heading into Q2, but 11th is still a good result for him whilst Pierre Gasly qualified 12th, just 1 thousandth of a second slower than Lawson’s quickest lap. Alex Albon could only Qualify 13th as his Williams wasn’t as competitive this weekend whilst Esteban Ocon struggled a bit in his Alpine. Kevin Magnussen was the slowest driver in Q2, but at least he outqualified his teammate. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped Q2 just ahead of Max Verstappen (who didn’t go out at the end).
Q3
In Qualifying 3, Max Verstappen set a blistering 1:28.877 to smash the rest of the field by nearly 6 tenths of a second! Max is clearly trying to prove a point after last weekend’s struggles and I dread to think how far clear he’ll be in tomorrow’s Grand Prix. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri will start on the front row of the Grid after a superb lap which was enough to outqualify his teammate as Lando Norris will start third. Charles Leclerc did a good job to get his Ferrari into P4 whilst Sergio Perez qualified P5, nearly 8 tenths behind his teammate which is absolutely shocking. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell will start alongside each other on the fourth row of the Grid tomorrow after Mercedes just didn’t have the pace whilst Yuki Tsunoda pulled out a great P9 result in his home race. Fernando Alonso rounded out the Top 10 in Qualifying as Aston Martin continue to fall back through the field.
Starting Grid for the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix and My Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Oscar Piastri: 10
Lando Norris: 9
Charles Leclerc: 8
Sergio Perez: 4
Carlos Sainz: 5
Lewis Hamilton: 5
George Russell: 4
Yuki Tsunoda: 9
Fernando Alonso: 4
Liam Lawson: 7
Pierre Gasly: 4
Alex Albon: 4
Esteban Ocon: 3
Kevin Magnussen: 4
Valtteri Bottas: 3
Lance Stroll: 1
Nico Hulkenberg: 1
Zhou Guanyu: 1
Logan Sargeant: 1
My Predictions for the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix
Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez
Lando Norris
Oscar Piastri
Charles Leclerc
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