Verstappen takes pole for the Japanese GP, but faces an investigation

Red Bull's Max Verstappen claimed pole position for the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix, with the Dutchman beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz by less than one tenth of a second.

Verstappen, though, will have to meet the race stewards following an incident with Lando Norris during the final part of qualifying, with the pair almost crashing into each other on their warm-up laps.

Right from the onset it looked like a battle between Verstappen and the two Ferraris for pole, with the Dutchman carrying his advantage from FP3 into qualifying.

While Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez struggled to match the pace of Leclerc and Sainz, for two out of the three sessions, Verstappen found that extra bit of pace and a small advantage.

Alpine's Esteban Ocon qualified qualified fifth with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in sixth.

The session's other big surprise was Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel, with the German putting on a great display in what was his final qualifying session on his favorite race circuit, with the German making it into Q3 for the first time since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.