Verstappen and Lambiase had goal: 'As long as I didn't crash'

Max Verstappen will start the Japanese Grand Prix from pole position. The Dutchman has been unstoppable all weekend and put his nearest rival over six tenths behind in qualifying. Verstappen looks very pleased with his laps in Q3 in particular and hopes Red Bull captures the constructors' title on Sunday.

'Lambiase told me: a 1:28 would be nice'

Where Christian Horner already indicated immediately after qualifying that Verstappen was cheered on by his engineer, Verstappen indeed revealed that he and Gianpiero Lambiase had indeed set a target. "Yeah, he told me like,’ 28 would be nice.’ I said, ‘don't worry, I'm going to send it’'". The two-time world champion was given one condition by his engineer; don't crash. Verstappen says he knew he still had margins in a number of places.

On the final lap, Verstappen indeed drove the first 1:28 of the weekend. In doing so, he put number two Oscar Piastri well behind. The Dutchman reveals that the RB19 has felt fantastic all weekend: "As soon as we put the car on the track, it's been very enjoyable to drive. Very predictable, which I think is the most important. Lap after lap in qualifying as well, it was getting better."

Will Red Bull take the constructors' title at Suzuka?

Verstappen expects to have the speed again during the race and hopes to grab the constructors' world title directly in Honda's home country. Theoretically, this was already possible in Singapore, but in Suzuka Red Bull will have its first real chance:"That was the aim, especially coming from Singapore. I wanted to have a really strong weekend and of course, we know that this is the first proper opportunity to win it, so we also want to do that."