Japan – Qualifying: 80th Pole Position for Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari Flounders

The clouds were threatening over Suzuka, and the rain stealthily made its appearance during the qualifying session. After his off-track incident in the last practice session this morning, Nico Hülkenberg was able to participate in the session and defend his chances.

However, eight minutes into this session, it was interrupted to be able to evacuate Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber, who made a mistake in the notoriously infamous Dunlop curve.

As soon as the lights turned green, the Renaults rushed onto the track as they had not yet been able to set a time. But the French cars found themselves in difficulties. Thus, Nico Hülkenberg was not able to save himself and stopped in 16th position.

The surprise of Q1 was that Lance Stroll was able to advance to the next stage. On the other hand, no miracle at McLaren, where both cars were eliminated. They avoided being last due to Marcus Ericsson not being able to defend his chances until the end. Once again, Stoffel Vandoorne was relegated to half a second behind his teammate.

The drivers eliminated from Q1 were: Hülkenberg, Sirotkin, Alonso, Vandoorne, and Ericsson.

In Q2, Mercedes attempted a different strategic choice by starting on yellow tires, which were the intermediate option offered this weekend. This didn’t seem to impact performance as Valtteri Bottas was the first driver of the weekend to go under the 1:28 mark. Lewis Hamilton was also positioned just three hundredths away. The difference with Ferrari was notable, as Sebastian Vettel was nearly three-tenths behind while Kimi Räikkönen was pushed back to six-tenths.

The Red Bull mechanics had a hectic session as Daniel Ricciardo’s car showed new reliability issues. He therefore did not have the opportunity to set a single time during this Q2. Although always smiling, the Australian was unable to put on a good show and let out a primal scream as he made his way back up the pit lane.

After a first lap completed by everyone, the rain decided to become more insistent. All the drivers were therefore forced to rely on their first attempt. The first to be eliminated was Charles Leclerc, who even performed a 360° spin on his last cooldown lap.

At home, Honda delivers a superb performance and sees both Toro Rosso cars break into the top 10.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 were: Leclerc, Magnussen, Sainz, Stroll, and Ricciardo.

At the start of Q3, Ferrari chose to send its two drivers out on intermediate tires. But as soon as they exited the pits, Sebastian Vettel realized that it was a mistake. Both men then dove into the pit lane after one lap.

The disaster for the Reds continued during their first timed attempt as both made mistakes. This resulted in Kimi Räikkönen ranking 4th, 1.7 seconds behind, while Sebastian Vettel was pushed back to 9th position.

When they returned to the track for a final attempt, the track was now too wet to defend their chances, which froze the positions. For his 80th position, Lewis Hamilton thus achieves an excellent result in the championship’s outlook, which could prove decisive.

The French had a very successful session with Romain Grosjean securing 5th place, Pierre Gasly 7th, and Esteban Ocon 8th.