Qualifying report
Formula 1 Japanese GP
Japanese GP: Hamilton flies to first Suzuka pole ahead of Bottas
Lewis Hamilton secured his first-ever Formula 1 pole position at Suzuka in qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix, beating Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas by over three tenths of a second.
Jamie Klein Ben Anderson
Edited: Oct 7, 2017, 10:55 AM
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Hamilton recorded a lap of 1m27.319s - the fastest-ever around Suzuka by a full 1.7 seconds, smashing Michael Schumacher's 2006 benchmark - in his final run in Q3 to take his 71st career pole, 0.332s up on Bottas.
But with Bottas set to drop five places on the grid due to a gearbox penalty, Sebastian Vettel will line up alongside title rival Hamilton on the front row of the grid.
The German was 0.140s slower than Bottas, finding only 0.006s on his second run while the Mercedes driver - who almost crashed at Degner in Q1 - improved by three tenths.
Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will start from the second row after qualifying fourth and fifth, 0.026s apart.
Kimi Raikkonen went off at the second Degner on his first run in Q3, scene of his crash in final practice, and his second effort was only good enough for sixth in the second Ferrari.
Raikkonen will also drop five places on the grid after requiring a new gearbox following that earlier crash.
Esteban Ocon is promoted to fifth in the Force India ahead of teammate Sergio Perez, Bottas and Felipe Massa's Williams with penalties applied.
Fernando Alonso beat McLaren teammate Stoffel Vandoorne to the final spot in Q3 by just 0.029s after but will drop to the back of the grid with a 35-place grid penalty for an engine change.
Nico Hulkenberg was 12th fastest in the best of the Renaults in Q2, but moves up to ninth after penalties are applied ahead of Vandoorne.
Kevin Magnussen scored the best qualifying result for Haas since August’s Belgian GP by posting the 13th-fastest time, within a tenth of Hulkenberg, and moves up to 12th behind Raikkonen on the grid.
A heavy crash for the other Haas of Romain Grosjean at the top of the Esses in the closing stages of Q1 brought that segment to an early end.
Grosjean, who complained “something wrong on the car, massive oversteer” as he ran off the road at Turns 5 and 6 before crashing into the wall before Turn 7, was already in the drop-zone when he crashed, having earlier lapped less than a tenth slower than Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen.
Grosjean ended up 16th quickest, but promoted to 13th on the grid after penalties ahead of Toro Rosso rookie Pierre Gasly and Williams driver Lance Stroll, who complained about being blocked multiple times in the early part of Q1.
Qualifying results (with penalties):
ClaDriverChassisEngineTimeGap 1 
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1'27.319 2 
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Ferrari 1'27.791 0.472 3 
Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull TAG 1'28.306 0.987 4 
Max Verstappen Red Bull TAG 1'28.332 1.013 5 
Esteban Ocon Force India Mercedes 1'29.111 1.792 6 
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes Mercedes 1'27.651 0.332 7 
Sergio Perez Force India Mercedes 1'29.260 1.941 8 
Felipe Massa Williams Mercedes 1'29.480 2.161 9 
Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren Honda 1'29.778 2.459 10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Ferrari 1'28.498 1.179 11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault Renault 1'29.879 2.560 12 
Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1'29.972 2.653 13 Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari 1'30.849 3.530 14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso Renault 1'31.317 3.998 15 
Lance Stroll Williams Mercedes 1'31.409 4.090 16 
Marcus Ericsson Sauber Ferrari 1'31.597 4.278 17 Pascal Wehrlein Sauber Ferrari 1'31.885 4.566 18 Jolyon Palmer Renault Renault 1'30.022 2.703 19 
Carlos Sainz Jr. Toro Rosso Renault 1'30.413 3.094 20 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda 1'30.687 3.368
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