Five winners and five losers from F1 Japanese GP qualifying

Qualifying for the F1 Japanese Grand Prix produced a shock result and has set up the prospect of an exciting grand prix on Sunday.

There was a huge upset right at the end of Q3 and plenty of headlines up and down the grid during the third regular qualifying session of F1 2025.

Here are our winners and losers from a pulsating qualifying at Suzuka.

Winner - Max Verstappen

The idea of a Max Verstappen pole position has become a shock prospect in 2025 due to Red Bull’s early struggles with their difficult-to-drive RB21.

We looked set for another McLaren front-row lockout with either Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri appearing a formality for pole, until Verstappen came from nowhere to stun them.

Verstappen left it late to produce a magic lap on his final run of Q3 to pip early F1 title rival Norris by 0.012s and take a fourth successive Suzuka pole.

With new Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda way down the order, Verstappen once again underlined exactly why he is a four-time world champion with yet another special qualifying performance.

Loser - Yuki Tsunoda

After making an encouraging start to his first weekend as a Red Bull driver, Tsunoda’s debut qualifying session quickly unravelled on home turf.

Tsunoda could only manage a disappointing 15th, which saw him exit early in Q2, having shown flashes of promising pace early on in qualifying.

What’s more, Tsunoda was outpaced by both Racing Bulls drivers including Liam Lawson, who he replaced at Red Bull following his brutal axing.

Tsunoda is confident he is adapting to the RB21 better than Lawson did, but there is no denying he will be gutted with the final result on Saturday.

Winner - Charles Leclerc

On paper, fourth and eighth on the Suzuka grid represents another underwhelming qualifying result for Ferrari.

But Charles Leclerc at least made a breakthrough with Ferrari’s 2025 F1 car which enabled him to extract extra performance to pip the Mercedes pair and claim a second-row starting spot.

Even though Ferrari’s outright pace was lacking, Leclerc has put himself in a position to challenge for a podium - and potentially even the win - on Sunday.

Loser - McLaren

It may be harsh to class McLaren as a loser considering their cars will line up second and third, but with the outright quickest package, they should have been on pole.

Piastri had sat on provisional pole after the first runs of Q3 and although Norris recovered well to take second after a messy start to the session, McLaren will ultimately come away disappointed not to have continued their streak of qualifying dominance at the start of the season.

McLaren’s failure to maximise the potential of their MCL39 has opened the door for Verstappen to take points away from Norris at a time Red Bull are seriously lacking performance.

Winner - Isack Hadjar

Isack Hadjar overcame severe pain to put his Racing Bulls car into the top-10 and outqualify a Ferrari.

The 20-year-old French rookie also outpaced teammate Lawson and new Red Bull driver Tsunoda on his way to grabbing an eye-catching seventh on the grid.

It was a hugely impressive performance from Hadjar, who expressed discomfort throughout qualifying as he struggled with ill-fitting seatbelts which he said nearly caused him to crash.

Loser - Lewis Hamilton

It was another tough day in the office for Lewis Hamilton as his frustrating start to life at Ferrari continued.

The seven-time world champion was left rueing going in a different set-up direction than Leclerc as he could only manage a time good enough for eighth, some three-tenths behind his teammate.

Hamilton could not hide his disappointment with his performance in qualifying at Suzuka, labelling it as “not good enough from my side”. It leaves him with a lot of work to do on Sunday to salvage a strong result.

Winner - Ollie Bearman

F1 rookie Ollie Bearman had a great day as he broke into Q3 and claimed 10th on the grid for Haas.

The 19-year-old Briton was one of the star performers in qualifying on a day his more experienced Haas teammate Esteban Ocon was dumped out of Q1 in 18th.

Bearman has put himself right in the mix to make it back-to-back points finishes on Sunday.

Loser - Jack Doohan

The Japanese Grand Prix is fast turning into a weekend to forget for Jack Doohan.

Doohan finds himself under more pressure after it was revealed that driver error led to his huge crash in second practice on Friday.

That accident put the Australian on the back foot and he did himself absolutely no favours by being knocked out in the first part of qualifying in a lowly 19th.

Winner - Pierre Gasly

In sharp contrast to Doohan, Pierre Gasly is having a much better run.

He had no trouble advancing to Q2 and only just missed out on a spot in Q3. The Frenchman had to settle with 11th in the end, but he can potentially fight for Alpine’s first points of the season from there.

Gasly was a full second quicker than Doohan.

Loser - Lance Stroll

Lance Stroll had a shocker at Suzuka as he was slowest of all in qualifying.

The Canadian dropped it through the gravel at the Esses during his second flying lap which ultimately ruined his qualifying, leaving him 20th and last on the grid.

Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso fared better and will line up from 12th.