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Verstappen: Car was “undriveable”
The Dutchman explains after his Q2 exit to Sky: “The car never turns in at the mid-corner, but at the same time it oversteers heavily at the entry this weekend. It’s really difficult and unpredictable.”
“We thought we had fixed the problem a bit in the third practice session, […] but in qualifying it was undriveable for me again,” he reports and explains that the Red Bull update apparently doesn’t work this weekend.
“We have problems that I can’t explain in detail here, which we know exist, […] and I think in qualifying it just got to a point again where the car was no longer driveable,” says Verstappen.
Read more After problems in China: «Terrible start» for McLaren in Japan
Russell: We need to understand this now
The Briton had no chance against his teammate today. But why? “It was a really strange session for us. We were both very fast all weekend,” he reports.
“After the third practice session we made some adjustments, and then at the start of qualifying we were nowhere,” he explains and emphasizes: “We have to understand that somehow.”
“We are very lucky to be on P2 again. In the last two weekends, things have somehow gone wrong in qualifying, but the race is tomorrow,” he says combatively.
Qualifying Overview
Report
Result
Starting Grid
Photos: F1: Japanese Grand Prix (Suzuka) 2026
Open session ticker now!
Qualifying in Japan starts in ten minutes and we are moving the action to our session ticker for now. So there’s a short break here, after the end of qualifying we’ll continue here with the voices on Saturday.
And if you want to know how you can watch Formula 1 on the Suzuka weekend in the livestream, you can find out here!
Verstappen streak wobbles
Max Verstappen has recently won four times in a row from pole position in Suzuka. Since 2022, the Dutchman has always secured the best starting position in Japan and later won the race.
A streak that is wobbling today – and will almost certainly end. Because in FP3, Verstappen was only eighth, 1.5 seconds behind. Red Bull won’t find that much time for qualifying.
Read more «Misunderstanding»: Why Aston Martin Noticed Honda’s Problems Late
Warning for Piastri
For the sake of completeness: Oscar Piastri has, as expected, received a warning because he stood in Nico Hülkenberg’s way once in FP3.
Important: He probably only gets away with a warning because it was a practice session.
In qualifying, something like that would almost certainly have resulted in a grid penalty.
Mercedes Greeting
Fernando Alonso became a father last week. Mercedes congratulated the Spaniard on X – and immediately suggested an outfit for the offspring.
Some users are therefore joking that Toto Wolff has already started scouting Alonso junior for the future …
The Bearman spin …
… you can now watch it again here from the onboard perspective. It’s impressive how he managed to prevent an impact.
Read more McLaren convinces: China defects will not occur in Japan