Max Verstappen has qualified on pole for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, putting the Red Bull driver in prime position to retain his world title this weekend.
The defending champion heads into the next race on the calendar with a 104-point lead over Charles Leclerc and he will retain his crown with victory and the fastest lap at Suzuki.
Although the Dutchman sealing the title is realistically a formality, he will want to get over the line this weekend, something which appears to be a step closer after he was faster than Leclerc by the narrowest of margins.
Just 0.01 seconds separated the pair in Q3, a potentially-decisive gap, but Verstappen had to avoid a penalty with the stewards after almost crashing into Lando Norris on an out-lap.
The McLaren driver had to take to the grass to avoid the Championship frontrunner, who suggested that he attempted to accelerate in order to heat up his tyres, and the stewards eventually settled on handing Verstappen a reprimand.
"I was on very cold tyres, so I had a little moment"
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 8, 2022
Max Verstappen explained his incident with Lando Norris 👇 pic.twitter.com/ID5C79jmw5
Should no penalty arise, Carlos Sainz Jr and Sergio Perez will take third and fourth spot on the grid, the pair less than half a second slower than Verstappen.
Alpine driver Esteban Ocon produced one of his qualifying performances of the year to go fifth-fastest, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and George Russell respectively.
Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel will start on the fifth row, ahead of Norris who completes the top 10.
Darren Plant
