Il Singapore weekend has already been archived by Max Verstappen and the Milton Keynes team. On the Marina Bay circuit, we witnessed one Red Bull lost, who was unable to go beyond fifth place with the Dutchman. A week later however, on the circuit where last year he was crowned world champion for the second time, Max Verstappen returns to dominate qualifying for the Japanese GP.
Japan Qualifying: Verstappen on pole
From the first moment the single-seater number #1 she touched the asphalt of the Japanese circuit and took the lead in every session. She turned into a memory now faded, that of last weekend in Singapore, Where many things seem not to have gone right at RedBull.
During the Japan qualifications, Verstappen looks like an alien. He gets the first half in both Q1 and Q3, but Max was beaten in Q2 by the Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, which is ahead of him by 24 thousandths of a second. Verstappen takes his eleventh pole position of this season with a gap of almost 6 tenths from the second place finisher, Oscar piastri.

“Singapore is now a distant memory”
Interviewed after qualifying, Max admits: “It was a sfantastic feeling to be able to push to the limit, especially in qualifying”. From the first day of the Japanese weekend, it is clear that between the Dutch driver and the Suzuka track there is an undeniable positive feeling. "We are returning from a negative weekend in Singapore, but already from the preparation I felt that Suzuka would have been a good track for us".
The two-time world champion Verstappen takes pole position in qualifying for the Japanese GP, with a detachment of 581 thousandths by the excellent Oscar Piastri. Max then says he is happy with this session: “From the first lap we tried to find improvements here and there. Pole here? Is fantastic". When SkySport F1 asks him if everything went back to normal, the pilot Red Bull he smiles and confides: “Singapore is now a distant thing memory".