"Mind-blowing" Verstappen pole hailed as ‘one of the greatest in F1 history'

The Red Bull driver topped every session bar Q2 before capping off his dominance with a stunning lap to claim pole position at Suzuka, beating McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by a massive 0.581s. 

Verstappen had already done enough to seal pole with his opening salvo in Q3 but improved further with a phenomenal final effort that left Sky pundit Chandhok in awe. 

"I'm still breathless watching that. I think that was one of the great qualifying laps in F1 history," ex-F1 driver Chandhok said.

"There's not much left on the table. The detail with which he drove - pinching little bits on the entry into Spoon Curve, 130R not using all the width. He thought about every metre and for me that's a driver who's ahead of the car.

"If they didn't have Max in the car, they would be second on the grid.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was equally impressed and hailed his star driver’s performance as “mind-blowing”. 

"I think what we have witnessed today is something very special,” Horner told Sky. 

“That last lap, just have a look at Turn Five. That first sector was absolutely mighty. 

"That first run looked good enough to get the job done but then he went quicker again. All his laps have been stunning today. An absolutely mind-blowing performance.”

Verstappen, who is on the verge of winning his third world title in a row, admitted the lap "brought a smile to my face”. 

"It's been good from Lap 1 onwards. It gave me a lot of confidence. Of course, throughout the weekend, you make little adjustments to the car, especially in Qualifying for Q3,” the Dutchman told Sky. 

"When you have that confidence, especially in Sector 1, you can really push it to the limit in a controlled way. It brought a smile to my face while driving.

"You have pole positions where the lap feels quite OK, but it feels a bit edgy or you think there was a bit more lap time in it, or you can change the balance around a little bit.

"I think today and the whole weekend, I knew if I went out, I could smash the lap time without having to think about it, whereas some other tracks it's a bit different. And that made it very enjoyable to drive."