RB19 in good hands with Verstappen: 'Being on pole here is fantastic'

Max Verstappen showed in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix that Red Bull Racing are still there. Teammate Sergio Perez came no further than P5, but Verstappen left little of his 19 rivals on the grid. He is therefore happy with his pole position.

"First I went to say a big thank you to the fans for supporting us the whole weekend and everyone is passionate about Formula 1," said Verstappen immediately after capturing pole position. "Incredible weekend so far. Especially in qualifying when you push it to the limit, it felt really really nice."

Revanche for Verstappen

At the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Saturday already ended in Q2 for the world championship leader. An incident, it now appears. At Suzuka, Verstappen was almost six tenths faster than Oscar Piastri, who finished second.

"We had a bad weekend in Singapore but I already felt from the preparation we had that this would be a good track. You never really know how good it would be but from Lap 1 it has been really nice. You try to find little improvements here and there and to be on pole here is fantastic," the Dutchman concluded.