The leader of the Formula 1 World Championship, the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), achieved the pole position this Saturday at the Japanese Grand Prix, where he will try to be crowned world champion for the second consecutive time on Sunday.
Verstappen beat the Monegasque by one hundredth of a second Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) in qualifying at the Suzuka Circuit.
The Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) took third position on the starting grid on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Dutchman has his sights set on a win in Japan, which would give him his second consecutive world title this Sunday.
Verstappen could be crowned with other results, which would depend on his two main rivals. The Dutchman needs in any case eight points more than Leclerc and six more than his Red Bull teammate, the Mexican Sergio Perezwhich leads respectively 104 and 106 units ahead in the World Cup standings.
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“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, where it was last raced in 2019, due to the pandemic.
Verstappen depends on himself
Verstappen, in reality, depends on himself, since a victory and an additional point as the protagonist of the best lap in the race would ensure the title.
The victory gives him 25 points, seven more than the second, who would get 18. If he adds one more to those seven units with the best lap, he would already have the necessary eight.
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“I don’t really think about the title. I take things as they come”, affirmed the Dutchman, for whom “the important thing is to have a competitive car and that is clearly the case”.
Verstappen could have lost his pole position having been under investigation by the race management, for a movement by the Dutchman that bothered the British Lando Norris (McLaren), who had to go slightly off the track to avoid the leader of the World Cup.
But the race management finally considered 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 difficult time. It’s clear that Lando was trying to pass me at that very moment, so he had to avoid me. But happily, nothing happened,” Verstappen downplayed.
Although according to Norris, it is “pretty clear” that Verstappen tried to prevent him from passing him and that he deserved a penalty.
The Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) will start on the second row on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. local time (05:00 GMT), followed by the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
In front of his audience, the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda will start in thirteenth 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 at his favorite circuit: “Arigato gozaimasu (thank you very much, in Japanese), I am going to miss this place”, declared the German. of four world titles, between 2010 and 2013, and which he also won four times at Suzuka.
After the first two sessions of rainy and insignificant free practice on Friday, dominated by Fernando Alonso (Alpine) and George Russell (Mercedes), Verstappen put things in place on Saturday on a dry track.
Announced rain on Sunday
“Mad Max” had announced it on Friday: “we will all start from scratch when the track is dry.” The teams knew that the qualifying conditions were going to be different, with no precipitation on the program for this 5.807 km circuit, considered one of the most technical on the calendar.
On the only track that features a figure-8 configuration, Verstappen prevailed by completing a new “super lap”, according to his skipper, Christian Horner.
But the tests on a wet track could be important for Sunday: the forecasts speak of a 40% chance of rain from the start of the race, and up to 80% at the end of it.
“The rain could offer opportunities,” said Hamilton, who fears the race “won’t be the most exciting if the weather is dry.” (D)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
