Japanese GP | Vettel grabs an amazing pole in a tricky qualifying session
It's the fifth pole-position in a row for Ferrari, the second for Sebastian Vettel in 2019, and it's an amazing one. The German tops the board by almost two tenths on team-mate Charles Leclerc in Suzuka, while Mercedes and Red Bull are slightly off-pace.
The qualifying session started affected by the tail of the typhoon still striking on the track. Cars' balance got easily upsetted by a very strong tail-wind in particular out of the final chicane. Robert Kubica and Keving Magnussen are the victims of this trickiness and both crashed on the wall, causing two red flag periods and gaining an early elimination from the session. When the Q1 checkered flag was finally waved the other three drivers to be kicked out of qualifying were a very upset Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and George Russell, while Leclerc topped the session on the other end of the timing-board.
Trubles for Max Verstappen few minutes into Q2: "No power" claims the Dutchman on the radio, causing Honda and the japanese fans to hold their breath. Still the #33 manages to survive the cut and makes his way into Q3. Also Nico Hulkenberg is hit by misfortune: having lost gears and powersteer, the German is forced back to the pits and to start the race in p15.
At the end of the session, Bottas led the way while Giovinazzi, Stroll, Raikkonen and Kvyat were eliminated and will start between p11 and p14.
A third different leader in Q3: the only session that matters. It's Sebastian Vettel, who grabs an incredible pole-position on his "favorite track". Charles Leclerc brings home a Ferrari 1-2 but pays a gap of 0"189 from the german team-mate. Bottas leads the Mercedes duo for the second row with an anonymous Hamilton sitting in P4. Fifth and sixth positions respectively for Max Verstappen and Alex Albon which set the exact same time. The Dutchman will start in front since he set the lap before the thai driver. Also the fouth row of the grid will be a lock-out, with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris having secured P7 and P8. Great effort also from Pierre Gasly, ninth overall, and Romain Grosjean, tenth.
"The conditions are very different to what we had on Friday. I really enjoyed it, but it is only part of the job done. Let's look ahead to this afternoon" stated Sebastian Vettel when he jumped out of his Ferrari car, with Charles Leclerc happy as well (at least in front of the cameras): "Seb did an amazing lap and he deserves to be on pole today. He was just too quick, so congratulations to him. We're surprised but happy to be 1-2 on the grid but it's the race that counts the most."
CLASSIFICATION: END OF QUALIFYING
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 13, 2019
Confirmation of a @ScuderiaFerrari front row lockout, as Sebastian Vettel secures his fifth pole at Suzuka 👏#JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 #F1 pic.twitter.com/7VTkYiPEv5
