Max Verstappen takes pole yet again in Japan as he looks to bounce back from Singapore disappointment – with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris set to line up in second and third, while Lewis Hamilton qualifies in seventh

Max Verstappen sent the clearest message yet that there will be very little chance of a repeat of last week’s turmoil in Singapore, when the reigning champion brushed aside his rivals to take pole position in Japan.

Verstappen, on a mission of revenge after his shock fifth-place finish at Marina Bay, twisted the neck of his RB19 around the Suzuka circuit in a figure-eight, where the bravest driver gets the biggest reward.

And so it was for the Dutchman, who was six-tenths ahead of Oscar Piastri on the front row, in another big step towards world title No. 3, which should all go to plan here on Sunday.

Verstappen predicted that McLaren duo Piastri and Lando Norris would pose the biggest threat to his status as pole sitter in Japan. The young duo indeed came closest to the Dutchman’s time of 1:28.827, but offered no real challenge to dislodge him.

“Here you go, 28,” Verstappen said nonchalantly over the team radio, happy to have gone under 1:29.

Verstappen was almost six-tenths ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the front row

But both Piastri and Lando Norris were happy with McLaren’s second and third places

“Incredible weekend so far, especially in qualifying when you can push yourself to the limit,” he said. ‘It felt really nice. We had a bad weekend in Singapore, but with the preparation I felt this would be a good track.

‘It was really fun from the first round. You try to find small improvements and we did that. Being on pole is fantastic.

‘My engineer said to me, “28 would be nice” and I said, “Don’t worry, I’m going to send it.” I knew there was some left in a few places, and I tried to clean that up. It turned out quite well.’

When asked if he encountered the same problems as in Marina Bay, Verstappen closed the question: ‘No, nothing. Singapore didn’t happen for us.

“We had a bad weekend, of course people are starting to talk about the technical guidelines. I think they could start sucking on an egg. I was really excited to have a good weekend and make sure we were strong.”

For the Australian Piastri it is the second time that he has stood next to Verstappen on the front row, after he did so at Silverstone earlier this year. The McLaren rookie continues to go from strength to strength in an impressive debut season and is establishing himself as, if not already, a future star.

“The first round was pretty solid, I was pretty happy with it,” he said. ‘In the second round my first sector was good and the next two sectors not so good. I’m happy to put him in P2, it’s been a really good week so far, we’ve had some upgrades to the car.

‘We thought we might have a chance (of pole), but no. It’s the first time in a while that I’m starting on the front row, so that’s cool. There is only one car I can overtake (Verstappen), so I will try to make that happen.’

Norris, who battled brilliantly to hold off George Russell and Lewis Hamilton for second place in Singapore last week, had to settle for a place behind his younger team-mate but was pleased with McLaren’s weekend so far.

“It was a very good day for us,” said the Brit. ‘P2 and P3, great job by Oscar, and as usual by Max.

‘It is not an easy circuit to sort everything out. A small mistake can cost us a lot of lap time, but we will be in good shape tomorrow.’

Meanwhile, Mercedes’ problems continued as Hamilton and Russell qualified in P7 and P8 respectively, a huge drop after their impressive performance last week.

Hamilton complained on Friday about his team’s poor start to the week and they have been playing catch-up ever since.

Earlier, there was a short break in the first qualifying session after American Logan Sargeant crashed

Hamilton settled for seventh on the grid, after being over a second behind Verstappen

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez – the Mexican 0.773 seconds slower than the Dutchman.

Carlos Sainz, the winner in Singapore, finished sixth, while Yuki Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10.

During the first qualifying session, there was a brief pause after American Logan Sargeant shunted his Williams into the barriers, a phrase all too familiar to the dispirited rookie this season. He emerged unscathed, but left his team with a huge job of getting his car ready for Sunday’s race.