The 18-year-old looked comfortable throughout the session in his W17, setting his pole lap of 1m29.362s early in Q3 to pip Mercedes teammate George Russell by 0.298s, while Oscar Piastri continued his strong form in Japan by taking third on the grid.

It was a disastrous session however for Max Verstappen, with the four-time world champion failing to reach the final part of qualifying after Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad knocked him out at the death of Q2.

It added further frustration to his difficult start to the 2026 season and marked the first time since 2019 that he will not start the Japanese Grand Prix from pole.

Antonelli said he was pleased with his performance, particularly in front of the Suzuka crowd.

“Really happy with the session and I will focus on tomorrow,” he said.

“The fans here in Japan are pretty incredible. There’s so much passion and racing at such a historic track is an incredible feeling.

“The track is unbelievable to drive with these kind of cars. And plus the fans give us a little bit more of a boost when we go on track.

“So thank you so much for coming.”

 

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Russell admitted it had been a difficult session despite securing a front-row start.

“Really strange session for us,” he said.

“We were both very fast all weekend. We made some adjustments after FP3 and then at the beginning of qualifying we were nowhere.

“So we need to kind of understand.”

The world championship leader admitted he felt fortunate to be starting as high as he was.

“Very lucky again to be in P2,” he explained.

“The last two weekends have kind of gone wrong come qualifying.

“But the race is tomorrow and still a lot of play for.”

Piastri, meanwhile, said he was encouraged by his performance as McLaren continued to close the gap to Mercedes.

“I think qualifying has been okay this year but nice to get into the top three,” he said.

“I think this weekend looked good and I think executed well.

“We clearly don’t have the pace or the grip that both Mercedes did. But we’re getting closer.”

Behind the top three, Charles Leclerc led Ferrari’s charge in fourth, splitting the McLarens after his final lap, with Lando Norris forced to settle for fifth ahead of the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton.

Pierre Gasly impressed to take seventh for Alpine, while Isack Hadjar continued his strong showing in eighth for Red Bull Racing.

Audi returned to the top 10 for the first time since Australia, with Gabriel Bortoleto ninth and Lindblad backing up his Q2 heroics by rounding out the top 10.

Verstappen’s elimination in Q2 was the standout shock of the session, with the Dutchman unable to extract the required pace despite a late improvement, leaving him 11th on the grid.

He had hovered around the cut-off zone throughout the segment and briefly climbed inside the top 10 before being pushed out in the final moments, as Lindblad delivered a 1m30.109s effort to secure the final transfer spot.

 

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The Red Bull driver ended up more than two tenths shy of the cut-off time and was left frustrated with the balance of his car as he returned to the garage, continuing a difficult start to his 2026 campaign.

Esteban Ocon led the remainder of the midfield runners in 12th for Haas, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson.

Lawson had looked a chance to progress on his final run but was unable to find the improvement required, ultimately finishing nearly half a second behind his teammate to settle for 14th.

Franco Colapinto and Carlos Sainz were the final drivers eliminated in Q2 and will line up just behind Lawson on the grid.

The biggest shock elimination in the opening part of qualifying was Oliver Bearman, who was edged into the drop zone in the closing moments and will line up 18th on the grid, just behind the Williams of Alex Albon.

Bearman missed the cut by just two thousandths of a second, with Albon also falling short despite improving late, as both were beaten by last-gasp laps from Sainz and Colapinto to escape elimination.

The fight to avoid the final spots in Q1 proved one of the tightest of the session, with only a tenth covering the key runners around the cut-off time.

The usual suspects filled out the bottom of the order, with both Cadillacs of Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas and the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll unable to challenge their way out of the drop zone.

The Japanese Grand Prix starts at 2pm Sunday (4pm AEDT).

Results: Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, Qualifying