“Only he can do it.”
High praise indeed for Max Verstappen, especially when it came from a smiling multiple world champion.
Fernando Alonso did not hide his admiration when Verstappen crossed the line and bested the two McLaren drivers to pole position at Suzuka. The Spaniard has long been a fan of Verstappen’s abilities, but even he appeared to be doubly impressed by what he had just seen.
“He’s an outstanding driver,” Alonso said. “He’s proving it every weekend. Hats off for him. I think the lap he did today is only down to him. I think the car is clearly not at the level to fight for pole or even the top five. But he manages to do magical laps and magical weekends. At the moment, he’s the best — he’s the reference for all of us, and we need to keep improving to reach that level.”
It really was a remarkable lap. Verstappen had no right to be in the mix for pole position, and I don’t think anyone in the right minds would have picked him as the Q3 runs began. Even though it’s Max Verstappen.
But the way he not only committed so much to his qualifying lap, but he executed too, was stunning to watch.
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Let’s not ignore the fact that both McLaren drivers could have beaten that late time. Maybe they even should have beaten that lap time. Had Lando Norris put together his first lap better then he would have been in position to attack his final run with less jeopardy, and Oscar Piastri’s sub-par first sector proved too costly to negate, despite the fastest overall next two sectors.
But they didn’t, and it’s hard to find many other drivers who would have been capable of giving them such a time to better than Verstappen had in the first place.
“We seemed to have a very competitive car today,” McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said. “Strong laps by both Lando and Oscar in Q1 and Q2, [and] in the first run of Q3 by Oscar. So it looked like we were on the way to pole position. Lando managed to improve significantly on his second set…
“But I think with Max I have stopped being surprised. He is such an incredible driver. And for me this is one of the many cases in which we have to just acknowledge and say hats off to Max. Well done in putting together, I guess, what was the potential of his car in conditions that were tricky with the wind and the grip a little inconsistent.
“Even if there was high grip and the lap times are actually I think the fastest times ever in Suzuka — which in itself is for some petrolheads is sort of an interesting piece of data, because actually I discussed this with the engineers and we thought we’re never going to beat the 2019 cars. And instead this happened, which is good.
“It would have been good if it was a McLaren but it’s Max.”
I must admit, I’ve had a feature titled “Verstappen’s primed to do something special” half-written since after the Australian Grand Prix, but have never completed it because other matters at Red Bull have taken over, never more so than this weekend. Maybe it’ll still get finished at some point, but you don’t need telling he might do something special now — he’s shown you he might.
If it goes to form, Verstappen is not going to win on Sunday. The McLaren is clearly quicker over one lap, and has both drivers ready to attack directly behind. The team can utilize the fact it has two cars in the fight — compared to just Verstappen from a Red Bull perspective — to try something different strategically if overtaking appears too tough in the opening part of the race.
But fortunately for all sports fans, competitions don’t always stick to form. The weather looks set to play a part in some way, and Verstappen in the wet is a tough combination to beat regardless of the car he is driving.
Suzuka is also not the easiest track to overtake on — although not impossible — so Verstappen is not likely to wave a McLaren by at any stage. His final stint in China showed that there is a chance his car can compete with any in certain conditions and on certain tire compounds, and that same compound he was quick on is in use this weekend again as the medium.
I’m the first to admit it was boring when Verstappen was winning everything with ease, even if such a level of performance was impressive. The same was true of Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, whether the car was in a dominant phase or not — seeing the same name at the top of the timing screens at every race weekend is not always the most exciting situation, certainly when it comes to keeping a wider fan base engaged.
But Verstappen starting from pole position this weekend is an extremely enticing one, as it puts the pressure on the two McLaren drivers to do the chasing, as well as finding a way to beat each other.
The weekend started with huge scrutiny for the Red Bull driver situation, and I was also putting the focus on Verstappen’s frustrations with line-up changes when the car clearly has weaknesses that need addressing.
Those weaknesses have not gone away, but Verstappen continues to handle them and has served up the perfect reminder of why Red Bull would make such a brutal move with the Dutchman’s championship chances — and future with the team — in mind.
As Alonso said, he can produce something magical.
