Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who was 0.773secs slower than Verstappen. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was sixth, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. His rivals said that, everything being normal, Red Bull would dominate in Japan, and so it has proved. “Incredible weekend so far and especially in qualifying when you can really push it to the limit, the car felt really nice,” Verstappen said. “We had a bad weekend in Singapore but I already felt from the preparation we had that this was going to be a good track. We have some upgrades on the car, happy to be second and third. The three drivers were well clear of the field – Verstappen was 0.240 seconds ahead of the McLarens with Sergio Perez’s Red Bull 0.5secs further back.

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