Max Verstappen: Break the “magic” pole tour of Red Bull Driver in Japan

Suzuka, Japan – “It’s. Force. It’s crazy!”

Max Verstappen’s engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, rarely seems as impressed as on radio when his pole driver for the Japanese Grand Prix was confirmed.

He had crossed this routine 40 times before, congratulating Verstappen after a job well done.

But this pole, the 41st of Verstappen’s career, seemed particularly special. After Red Bull is struggling to make Verstappen fully comfortable with the RB21 car, which prompted a range of configuration experiences to try to obtain answers to Suzuka, as well as the domination of McLaren at the beginning of this season, to grasp the post in this way was a shock. The Tour was also a new assessment in Suzuka.

The exuberant reaction of Verstappen on the radio summed up his surprise. “Yes, guys!” He applauded in response to Lambiase. “Wow, what a tour.”

He had already seen his name appear in P1 on the TV screen after crossing the line, but with a provisional pole-sitter Oscar Piastri to complete his knees, it was not sure. Piastri dropped four hundredths, leaving him third on the grid behind Verstappen and his teammate McLaren Lando Norris, who was only 0.012 seconds of the pole.

A fan of comparison, Verstappen said at a press conference after qualifying that it was “difficult” to deposit this as its best pole position F1. “If you look at how our season started, even during this weekend, it’s very unexpected,” said Verstappen, conceding: “This probably makes it very special.”

Few will not agree. Twelve months ago, the dominant charge of Verstappen in Pole and Victory in Suzuka encouraged Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, to raft the rest of the season, believing that the Dutchman had already won the championship in a Red Bull car which seemed perfect.

The image has changed so much in F1 since then. Verstappen is now the oppressed against Norris and Piastri in the superior McLaren, Red Bull having since fallen in the hierarchical order. It simply makes her gifts shine behind the steering wheel one day like this.

“It was one of the towers of his career,” said the boss of the Red Bull team Christian Horner, on F1 TV after the session. “It was exceptional.”

Fernando Alonso’s double world champion was blown away by looking at Verstappen’s knees between his interviews after qualifying in the media pen. “The tour he did is only for him,” Alonso told journalists. “The car is clearly not in terms of fighting for the post or even the first five. But he manages to do magic tricks and magical weekends.

“For the moment, he is the best, the reference for all of us. We must continue to improve to reach this level. ”

Verstappen had to give everything in the last round in the third trimester. He had dragged McLaren cars all weekend in Suzuka, a circuit where he was not beaten in qualifying or in six years.

Red Bull has continued to try everything with the configuration of the car to find answers and improve balance so that it has the confidence necessary for a track as fast and ruthless as Suzuka, refining weight distribution, aerodynamic balances, features, roller bars and suspension springs. No stone has been returned.

It was still not enough to leave Verstappen completely comfortable. He admitted after qualifying that the balance of the car was still not entirely to his taste despite taking pole. But entering the last round in the third quarter, dragging Piastri by two tenths of a second, Verstappen knew that he had to give everything.

“I had a lot of fun there, being fully committed everywhere,” said Verstappen. “Some places, I did not know if I was really going to keep it (on the track) or not.”

The first bet came to the first corner, the long right right where the speed took place through a pilot for the Eses to follow. Verstappen transported up to 25 km / h more speed in the area, hoping to prepare for a faster outing. It won him a hundredth of a second in his previous round, but when he had left the Eses, Verstappen was a few thousandths of a second, slower than before. There was more time to find.

He did not withdraw through Dunlop, the long left, as on the previous round, preparing him for the Degners, the consecutive right corners which complete the track under the crossover. In the previous tours, he braked for the first to be on turn 8 and held the accelerator a little. Not this time. A larger elevator but no contact throughout the brake pedal was the fastest path, which won it a half dix.

Then came the hairpin, the slow speed corner where Verstappen grazed very slightly later, keeping its speed up to take another half of the process, before the square sweep to the spoon. The corner is one of the most delicate on the track, lasts several seconds before putting the pilots towards the right back. Obtaining the right line is difficult, but Verstappen held back later and longer than the previous round before another soft application on the diving of the descent to go out. The additional 6 to 7 km / h he took over in the area have again increased to another time saving.

Verstappen identified all these corners as he thought that the most risk had been taken on his post. “These places were like, well, I hope it will stay,” he said.

But it was at the final chicane, the Casio triangle, where Verstappen really made the difference. Horner admitted that the section “had not been our strongest point this weekend”, but Verstappen produced a little more magic to find time. A moment later, the brakes meant that he could become heavier on the accelerator which came out of the first right turn before another elevator to slow it down for the left to the left. While the car worked to move away from him, Verstappen kept him under total control before returning to the gas and sweeping the line.

The tour was sufficient for the pole position of only 0.012 seconds. If he was one of these corners himself or miss one of these earnings, he would probably have lost behind the two McLarens, spectacularly changing his perspective for the race on a track where the overtaking is difficult.

Instead, Verstappen will again lead the field far from the pole position in Suzuka. The threat of rain during the night – which would be welcome to wet the grass and stop another fire – could complicate things, but with Verstappen leading like that, it is difficult to see anything stop.

The smile on his face after the qualifications summed up how gratifying the post to one of his favorite pieces. When a journalist asked him to explain the feeling of nail around Suzuka, Verstappen replied: “If you want to drive the car, I can try. I think you are going to poop your pants.” (He then looked at the FIA ​​media delegate to ask him if he could say that, a reference to the hooh last year on swearing at him during a press conference.)

Saturday was a reminder, if we needed it, what Verstappen can do. The quadruple world champion may not have the fastest car this year. But again for Red Bull, he was the difference manufacturer.

The ultimate pilot on the track of the ultimate driver, offering a tour that will live in memory of the extremely successful F1 career in Verstappen.

(Top Photo: Mark Thompson / Getty Images)