Red Bull’s 104th pole position means they now have as many as Hamilton

Max Verstappen produced a pole position lap to remember at Suzuka, pipping Lando Norris to the top spot by just 12 thousandths of a second.

Every grand prix pole position this year has been decided by less than a tenth of a second. This was the closest since Charles Leclerc beat Sergio Perez to pole for the Belgian Grand Prix last year by 0.011 seconds, though on that occasion Verstappen was almost six tenths of a second faster than both of them, but was relegated to 11th on the grid by a power unit change penalty.

Verstappen’s pole position was the 104th for Red Bull since the team was founded 20 years ago. They now have as many pole positions as the record-holding driver, Lewis Hamilton, who is on 104.

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Red Bull need three more pole positions to draw level with Lotus, which is fifth on the all-time list with 107.

Verstappen converted his pole position into his fourth consecutive victory in the Japanese Grand Prix. That is the most for any driver – Michael Schumacher was the only other to manage three in a row.

The McLaren drivers chased Verstappen home, the trio covered by just 2.129 seconds at the line. The same three drivers filled the podium places at this race two years earlier, Verstappen ahead of Norris and Oscar Piastri, but the gaps were rather larger then: Norris was 19s behind and Piastri took the chequered flag 36s after the winner.

Last weekend’s podium was the closest at any race since the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix. Norris was second on that occasion too, as Carlos Sainz Jnr won and third-placed Hamilton was a mere 1.269s behind.

Hamilton finished seventh last weekend behind his replacement at Mercedes. Andrea Kimi Antonelli continued his tremendous start to his first Formula 1 season at Suzuka.

On his first visit to one of the world’s most challenging circuits, the teenager brought his car home sixth, just 1.2 seconds behind his considerably more experienced team mate.

Antonelli has finishes all three of his grands prix to date inside the points. Formula 1 noted this in a social post, declaring him “the first driver to score points in their first three races since… the man he replaced, Lewis Hamilton.”

This is true but somewhat misleading, as F1 has changed its points distributions over the years. When Hamilton made his debut only the top eight finishers scored points. It was only extended to cover the top 10 in 2010.

One other driver did finish all of their first three races in the top 10 during that time but did not score points in each, as they would today. That was Heikki Kovalainen, who made his debut in the same race as Hamilton:

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Isack Hadjar scored the first points of his career with eighth place. Alexander Albon took ninth, which means Williams have beaten their 2024 points total of 17 after just three races – they now have 19.

Fernando Alonso became the last driver this year to register a finish, in 11th place. Had he finished three places lower he would have equalled his worst-ever start to a season over three rounds – a far cry from his excellent start to life at Aston Martin two years ago.

For the first time this year all 20 drivers finished. They nearly all stayed on the lead lap as well – only Alonso’s team mate Lance Stroll dropped a lap down.

It was a processional affair, however. In the top 10, only Hamilton and Hadjar exchanged places from start to finish. In total, 11 drivers finished in the same position they started – only one less than last year’s notorious processional Monaco Grand Prix.

Over to you

Have you spotted any other interesting stats and facts from the Japanese Grand Prix? Share them in the comments.

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