Verstappen calls pole a "great little surprise", but still "not happy" with the RB21

The Dutchman found some pace that no one thought was possible to beat the two McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

The papaya-coloured cars looked almost unstoppable around Suzuka, but Verstappen pulled a lap from out of the fire to pip Norris by +0.012 seconds, keeping the Brit behind him.

Speaking at Saturday's press conference at Suzuka, Verstappen started by saying how happy he was to take his first pole position of 2025.

"It's difficult. I've had some really nice ones also in other places, but I think if you look at how our season started, even during this weekend, I think it's very unexpected, I would say, and I think that makes it probably a very special one," continued the Dutchman.

Suzuka is a circuit that is renowned for being a favourite amongst many of the drivers, including Verstappen, and that propelled the Dutchman to P1.

However, straight away, the Red Bull driver has his mind set on what he and his team can do better to improve an RB21 that has had a lot of issues so far in 2025.

"We did what we could. We also have to wait and see what weather we'll get. From then onwards, I think it's very important to just focus on ourselves, try to do the best we can, and execute the race, of course, in the best way possible. But I don't know, of course, how fast we'll be," concluded Verstappen.