Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position for Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix with a dominant qualifying performance, leading a Mercedes one-two, while title rival Sebastian Vettel was third-fastest. Hamilton was quickest in all phases of the session, as he claimed his first pole at Suzuka and smashed Michael Schumacher’s qualifying lap record from 2006. The three-time world champion was by far the quickest driver on track in qualifying for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, repeatedly battering the qualifying lap record at Suzuka as he claimed pole for the 71st time in his career.
Incredibly, and especially considering he has won two of the last three races here, it was the first time Hamilton had ever taken pole at Suzuka. The championship leader was more than four tenths clear of Vettel after the first runs in Q3 and lowered his own benchmark by a couple of hundredths to confirm pole. Vettel’s Ferrari was provisionally on the front row after the first runs, but a small improvement at the end was not enough to stay second. Valtteri Bottas, who almost crashed at the second Degner in Q1 after shunting in FP3, found a chunk of time on his own final run to make it onto the front row.
However, a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change on Bottas’s Mercedes will promote Vettel back onto the front row for Sunday’s race. Daniel Ricciardo was fourth fastest in the best of the Red Bulls, just 0.026 seconds clear of team-mate Max Verstappen. Kimi Raikkonen went off at the second Degner on his first run in Q3, scene of his crash in final practice, and his second effort was only good enough for sixth in the second Ferrari. Raikkonen will also drop five places on the grid after requiring a new gearbox following that crash. Esteban Ocon narrowly beat Sergio Perez again, while Felipe Massa’s Williams and Fernando Alonso’s McLaren-Honda rounded out the top 10 in Q3. Perez is under investigation for impeding Massa’s Williams team-mate Lance Stroll in Q1, while Alonso will drop to the back of the grid thanks to a 35-place grid penalty for an illegal engine change, following a hydraulic leak discovered after Friday practice.
Alonso’s McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne missed out on beating Alonso into Q3 by just 0.029s after failing to improve on his second run, but he should start the race inside the top 10 thanks to Alonso’s grid penalty. Nico Hulkenberg was 12th fastest in the best of the Renaults in Q2, a tenth further back, while Kevin Magnussen scored the best qualifying result for Haas since August’s Belgian GP by posting the 13th fastest time here, within a tenth of Hulkenberg.
