05/04/2025
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "It's been an incredible qualifying for us even though the weekend has been quite tough so far.
"We kept working and the changes that we made going into qualifying helped as we were lacking a bit of pace before. The car got a little better and we could attack the corners a bit more. During qualifying we kept trying to find little gains and drive to the limit meaning that we improved nicely, which made the difference today. Every lap that we did we built on and learned from. We maximised what we had, didn't make any mistakes in the lap and it was a great result in the end. Pole was a surprise for everyone as so far this year we have not been the best on race pace, so I am very happy for the Team. Tomorrow the rain might make it a bit more of an interesting race and we will do our best to get the best possible result."
Yuki Tsunoda: "There's some frustration today. I think the warmup didn't go as I wanted for that final lap and it was pretty messy, especially in the first sector. We are still learning, and I thought the warmup was ok and we would maybe be a little compromised, but the penalty was pretty big. I thought we would be able to build from Q1 but that wasn't the case. At least my confidence in the car feels good now, I just wasn't able to put it together today and that is a shame. I think the positive is I have started to understand the car well. FP1 and FP3 felt good and I started well today, it was just that final lap, the car is quite sensitive on its tyres, and I started to feel that in Q2, the pace was there to get to Q3 and I need to be able to maximise it. My mindset all weekend has been to just enjoy the situation, the car, the Team, being at Suzuka, and I felt more calm than usual but at the same time I felt responsible to perform. It's my home grand prix, so I will stay focussed tomorrow and try my best, a bit of rain could help us move through the field."
Christian Horner: "An unbelievable lap from Max to take a fourth consecutive pole position here in Suzuka! We've turned the car upside down this weekend and Max has worked hard with his team to get the car in the window. Collectively, they have done a great job and then Max went and nailed it. That was one of his best laps in qualifying ever, plus a new lap record; truly outstanding. It was a very well deserved, if not slightly unexpected pole. It was unfortunate for Yuki who just lost a couple of tenths in the first sector that cost him a chance of Q3. He's settled in well and has been right there all weekend until that moment. He will race well from there tomorrow."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Suzuka here.