For the second race in succession it’s teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli starting from pole. The Italian youngster dominated team mate George Russell in Qualifying, as Mercedes locked out the front row at Suzuka.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri came close to crashing the Silver Arrows’ party, with the Australian third on the grid alongside the fast-starting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Their respective team mates, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, start fifth and sixth.
The experienced Pierre Gasly is P7, the Alpine driver heading a tight midfield pack, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar eighth and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto’s ninth. Racing Bull’s rookie Arvid Lindblad completes the top 10, having knocked stablemate and four-time champ Max Verstappen out of Qualifying in the dying moments of Q2.
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