Verstappen took pole at the Japanese Grand Prix for the third consecutive year

Verstappen, who set the pace with a lap of one minute and 28.197 seconds, 0.066 seconds ahead of Pérez, becomes the first driver to get pole position in the first four races of a season since Lewis Hamilton nine years ago.

But with Lando Norris of McLaren, Carlos Sainz of Ferrari and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin In the other top five places and all within half a second of Verstappen, Sunday’s race promises to be a closer affair than the Dutchman’s procession in 2023.

“At the end it was very close,” said Verstappen, who is seeking to recover from a mechanical problem that prevented him from finishing the last race in Melbourne. “The most important thing, though, is to be on pole; of course you want every lap to be perfect, but on a track like this that’s not always the case.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris will start third in Sunday’s race, qualifying 0.292 seconds behind Verstappen.

“We had a good car today, we could fight,” Norris said.

“We’re trying to catch up to Red Bull, but they’re doing a good job, so I take my hat off to them.”

Although Sainz, who won the last race in Australia after Verstappen retired, qualified fourth, his teammate Charles Leclerc had a difficult drive that will see him start again in eighth place on Sunday.

“It’s the best I can do. I honestly don’t understand it,” Leclerc said over the team radio toward the end of qualifying.

Aston Martin’s Alonso and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, finished fifth and sixth respectively.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton and Mercedes’ George Russell finished seventh and ninth, and local hero Yuki Tsunoda earned one of the biggest cheers of the day by sneaking into the final round of qualifying and starting tenth tomorrow.