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Max Verstappen said Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri “will not get easy” at Sunday’s Japan Grand Prix as the rain threatens Suzuki.
After McLaren dominating practice, Verstappen surprised everyone with his first shot in nine months.
Norris and Piastri won both games in the opening ceremony, but Verstappen trailed only the British driver, who led the championship.
Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.
“The pace of the game is not the best for us so far. We know. I put it on the pole today and don’t guarantee that we will win tomorrow.
“At the same time, I won’t be relaxing. I want to try to win. We have to wait and see what the weather will do, and I just hope it will be a fun game.”
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Max Verstappen snatched poles from Lando Norris’ McLarens and Oscar Piastri, at the Japan Grand Prix
McLaren is expected to have a stronger race pace, but needs to surpass Verstappen on the track, or if they don’t jump him down in the first place.
Traditionally, challenging Suzuki circuits have difficulty having only one DRS area on the main line and following fast corners along the first half of the circle, so the track position is important.
Although Verstappen’s efforts to push Norris in the late stages of the Australian Grand Prix opening this season, McLaren’s gap reached 20 seconds until the safety car fused the fields together.
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McLaren’s Lando Norris won the season’s first victory at the Australian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen and George Russell completing the podium
In China, Verstappen drifted for 16 seconds in the 16 seconds of racer piastri, but in the first inning, all the time lost all the time on the medium tires and then took the gap on the hard tires.
“It’s hard (win), but it’s good. I’ll do my best,” Verstappen added.
“We have been unable to fight them so far this season. But that’s not to say we’re just sitting there to accept it. We do our best and tomorrow we’ll give it a good fight if we can.
“But at the end of the day, it’s a long championship, and you need to keep the scoring point as much as possible. At least we start from the frontline – and then we’ll see where we go.”
Norris is “excited” for Verstappen fight
Verstappen wasn’t very active when fighting the driver in the opening two games, unlike his duel with Norris in the 2024 championship battle.
It seems Verstappen is reluctant to take risks by fighting cars he thinks are faster, as the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint shows when he almost walked away from Piastri to maximize his point of view.
This strategy works because Sunday’s win could put Verstappen in the title lead, although Red Bull’s car is obviously not as good as McLaren.
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McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
Norris demonstrated his qualification in Australia to keep his head in wet conditions to stop Verstappen and may need to prove it again to beat the Dutch.
He told him: “I’m excited about Max’s fight. Sky Sports F1.
“I don’t know what the weather will do, it’s a big problem. It’s probably a bit like Melbourne, it’s an exciting game for you guys, it’s tough and disturbing for us.”
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McLaren driver Oscar Piastri ran on the grass and let him rejoin the last one!
Piastri, who celebrated his 24th birthday on Sunday, added: “I think we’re on a good pace. I don’t think others are as far out of reach as people think. You never know much about engine mode and stuff like that.”
“Obviously, the game plan is trying to complete two positions before I start. But beyond that, we’ll see what we get.”
Will Suzuki cause rain?
If there is anything needed for the Australian Grand Prix at the opening ceremony, rainfall from current generation cars will cause a lot of mistakes on challenging tracks.
Every rookie crashed except for Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, and even experienced Fernando Alonso spins his Aston Martin.
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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz reflects all the big topics of the qualifying match of the Japanese Grand Prix
The latest weather forecast says the whole morning will rain heavily in Suzuki and then stop in the afternoon before the start of 3pm local time (6am in the UK).
A wet track could put 20 drivers into round 1 at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix, which would be an exciting start.
F1 officials hope that rainwater will also get rid of more grass fires after the fifth-largest fire broke out in Saturday’s qualifying match.
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Lewis Hamilton is disappointed with the qualifying, saying it is “not good enough” for his P8 position
Lewis Hamilton will start in eighth place, hoping that wet weather will move through the fields.
“I really like the rain, so I hope I can’t come tomorrow after the qualifying round,” he said.
His teammate Charles Leclerc ranked fourth but is unlikely to win in drought conditions, while George Russell and Kimi Antonelli targeted fifth and sixth.
Later on, family hero Yuki Tsunoda hopes to collect the 14th stadium for Red Bull from his first Grand Prix.
Sky Sports F1’s live Japanese GP program
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Here is your paddock pass for the Japanese Grand Prix, who shares the sneaky Naomi Schiff in Suzuka!
Sunday, April 6
- 4.30am: Japanese GPs Gathering: Grand Prize Sunday*
- 6:00 am: Japan Award*
- 8 am: Japan GP reaction: Checkered flag*
- 9:00 am: TED’s notebook*
*Also live in the main event of Sky Sports
The recipe is live on Sky Sports F1 this weekend at the iconic Suzuki Tour of the Japan Grand Prix. Streaming with Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel at any time
