On the weekend in which he can secure his second consecutive Formula 1 title, Dutchman Max Verstappen took pole position this Saturday at the Suzuka International Circuit and on Sunday he will start from first place in the Japanese Grand Prix, the 18th date of the 2022 championship of the queen category of world motor sports.
On board his Red Bull, Verstappen beat Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) by one hundredth of a second in qualifying at the Suzuka circuit, while Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) took third place on the starting grid on Sunday.
A victory and an extra point as protagonist of the best lap of the race would ensure the title to the Dutchman, who could also be crowned by other results, which would depend on his two main rivals. The race leader still needs eight points more than Leclerc and six more than his Red Bull teammate, the Mexican Sergio Pérez, who is ahead of respectively 104 and 106 units in the standings.
“I am very happy to start from pole and also very happy to be back here,” said Verstappen, who took his first pole position at Suzuka, the track he last raced on in 2019 due to the pandemic. “I don’t really think about the title. I take things as they come. The important thing is to have a competitive car and this is clearly the case, ”he added.
After the first two rainy and insignificant free practice sessions on Friday, dominated by Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and George Russell (Mercedes), on Saturday the champion put things right in the dry. In any case the conditions could be different in the race, given that the forecasts speak of a probability of rain of 40% from the beginning of the race and up to 80% at the end of the same.
Verstappen may have lost pole position as he was being investigated by race management for a move that shocked Briton Lando Norris (McLaren), who had to go off the track slightly to avoid the World Championship leader. But in the end the race direction felt that this incident did not deserve a penalty and a warning.
“I was driving quite slowly. I wanted to accelerate but my tires were a bit cold so I had a hard time. It is clear that Lando was trying to overtake me right then so he had to avoid me. But luckily nothing happened.” Verstappen he downplayed. Instead, according to Norris, it was “pretty clear” that Verstappen had tried to stop him from overtaking him and that he deserved a penalty.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) will start from the second row on Sunday, followed by Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). In front of his audience, the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda will start in 13th place.
The German Sebastian Vettel, who will retire at the end of the year, took advantage of his ranking in ninth place to greet the public on his favorite circuit: “Arigato gozaimasu (thank you very much, in Japanese), I’m missing this place”, declared the four-time world champion, who achieved four career victories in Suzuka.
Source: Clarin
