By F1 correspondent Michael Butterworth

SUZUKA, Japan, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Red Bull's Max Verstappen took pole position for Sunday's Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, edging the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri with a scintillating lap at the Suzuka Circuit.

Coming into qualifying, it seemed as if McLaren would be the team to beat, but Verstappen pulled out all the stops to post a time of 1:26.983, just 0.012s ahead of Norris and 0.044s clear of Piastri.

"We tried the best we could to get the best possible balance. It wasn't easy but every [practice] session we had little improvements," said Verstappen, whose time was over one second clear of his pole position lap from 2024.

"That made the difference. The last lap was just flat out and it is incredibly rewarding. We will look to tomorrow and do our best."

Verstappen's joy contrasted the fortunes of his new teammate and local hero Yuki Tsunoda, who could only manage 15th on his first appearance for Red Bull.

Much attention in recent days has been on Tsunoda, who had started the season with Racing Bulls but was swapped with the underperforming Liam Lawson after the Chinese Grand Prix.

However, after having largely impressed so far this weekend, Tsunoda was unable to put together a clean lap in qualifying, and in an ironic twist, the Japanese was outqualified by Lawson, who finished the session 14th.

Behind the top three, Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari, with the two Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli sharing row three on the grid.

Isack Hadjar shrugged off a problem with his seatbelts early in the session to finish an excellent seventh, ahead of Leclerc's teammate Lewis Hamilton in a disappointing eighth.

Alex Albon was the first Williams in ninth, with Ollie Bearman putting on a good showing to finish 10th in his Haas.

Outside the top 10, Pierre Gasly lined up 11th for Alpine, ahead of Albon's teammate Carlos Sainz, who is yet to show his best form for Williams.

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso finished the session 13th, ahead of Lawson and Tsunoda.

Of the drivers knocked out in Q1, the two Saubers were 16th and 17th, with Nico Hulkenberg ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.

Bearman's teammate Esteban Ocon finished 18th, with Jack Doohan 19th after having recovered from a huge shunt in Friday's second practice session, and Lance Stroll lining up 20th and last in the second Aston Martin after a trip through the gravel.

As what had happened in practices earlier on Friday and Saturday, the session was halted midway through Q2 after the grass at the side of the track was set alight from sparks being thrown up from the cars' undertrays.

The fire-related stoppages happened despite track workers having hosed down grassy areas before qualifying, and race organizers may be praying for the rain predicted for Sunday morning to moisten the dry grass. Enditem

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