Qualifying Highlights | 2026 Japanese Grand Prix

Sainz with a good lap to give himself an opportunity. He's P13 right now. So that's an early benchmark for Albon. You've at least got to get ahead of Sainz. So Lindblad responds and gets back ahead of the Williams. It's going to be Albon then to try and jump further up the field. It's all so close around that pace. Albon does improve but only improves to the brink. The bubble, 16th at threat and plenty still on push laps behind. Lawson over the line and Lawson goes to ninth. Behrmann is out. So Oli Behrmann, having been a hero for the first two weekends of the year, is 17th and out behind Albon. Can Colopinto get himself through? Alonso gets ahead of Stroll. Colopinto is on a personal best to the first sector. The Audis continue their excellent run around this circuit. P6 for Hülkenberg and here is Borgleto who goes up to P7. It's all on Colopinto v. Albon at the bottom of the field. No one else will jump out of the order but we can have an inter-team battle between Bottas and Perez as well to look out for Cadillac Pride. So Gasly gets up to 10th position. Behrmann with no right of reply. Piastri going very quickly in the middle part of the lap. Colopinto finds the lap time. Franco Colopinto, fresh from returning to the points, has made it through. He's in 16th place and Colopinto finds his way through. Carlos Sainz becomes the second. Williams to make it through into the second part of qualifying. The shock name, the driver, fifth in the World Championship. Oliver Behrmann, the surprise in the first part of qualifying. Albon, Behrmann, Perez, Bottas, Alonso and Stroll the sixth to fall. Gasly over the line. He improves to P6 with the fastest final sector of anyone so far. Hülkenberg hasn't been in Q3 here since 2016 and he won't be. There was a big opportunity there. He wasn't able to take it and now Bortoletto in eighth position. What can Arvid Lindblad do? He's on a much better lap in the Racing Bulls. Bortoletto still P8. Here we go with Lindblad then coming through the final couple of corners. Can he knock Max Verstappen out of Q3? He comes across the line. He does it! The rookie driver, 18 years of age. Arvid Lindblad knocks out the four-time champ. An almighty shock at a circuit Verstappen has made his own in the last few years. Verstappen, 11th. Lawson's on a lap as well but he's not about to trouble the top ten. Lawson's through and 14th. What a job from Lindblad then. Missed FP2 yesterday. Missed the crucial hour of running. They had a gearbox issue in the car. He's jumped in. Difficult circuit as Antonelli drops that benchmark. A quarter of a second lower in the Mercedes. See if Hamilton can find his feet in this session. Half a second away. But Lindblad. That's astonishing for him to get up into Q3 on a circuit that he's not known coming here. Missing one of the two sessions yesterday. I think something's wrong with the car mate. It's completely unrun while suddenly it is qualifying. Jumping in high speed on the rear suddenly. Max Verstappen is out along with Ocon, Holkenberg, Lawson, Colopinto and Sainz. If the gap between these two is two thousandths of a second at the end of the lap, we riot. But at the moment Antonelli has a useful toe from Isaac Hadja who's weaving to build up his lap. It'll be the toe that's done it if there's two thousandths for Antonelli. So he's now up on George Russell through two sectors. Just the chicane to go. How quickly can he get to throttle? Squirreling all over the road. Full commitment lap for Kimi Antonelli. Time to beat is a 1.28.778. Can Russell get on terms? Mercedes versus Mercedes. And he's behind by two tenths of a second. The margin after one sector two thousandths. And then two whole tenths by the end. Very nearly three. And Phil, that's a lap time that will be a carrot for Charles Leclerc. Something for him to aim at now. Couple of tenths quicker than he managed in Q2. But the track group's coming up. And Hamilton has done the fastest first sector of anyone as well in the other Ferrari. Remember, you've got to balance your deployment of the battery power all the way through the lap. But what an encouraging first sector it is for the Scuderia. Hamilton searching for his third pole position around this circuit today. Leclerc's first sector is right there with his teammate and the Mercedes as well. Norris to third. He's six tenths of a second off. Piastri has been the stronger McLaren this weekend. Let's see where he is across the line. He goes into third, but he's three tenths of a second away. As is Charles Leclerc at the two thirds point. So Hamilton does the Hamilton line through the final chicane, missing those kerbs and scrambles to the line. Behind him, Leclerc is going quicker. So Hamilton's fifth behind the McLarens. But Leclerc could get in amongst it. Let's see whether the Ferrari can fight his way to the front. He fades to fifth. A fight between the silver arrows when it matters. With the clock ticking down at the end of qualifying, Antonelli is not improving his time from before, but neither is George Russell. Could it be back-to-back pole positions for the Italian driver? He's six hundredths of a second away. Can Russell find an improvement at the end and knock his teammate off top spot? Nowhere near. Four tenths of a second away. Advantage Antonelli. Can Piastri get closer? It's Norris over the line first for McLaren. He remains in fourth. So Piastri's got a chance at the front row here if he can neatly get out of this exit. The Australian driver to the line, and he's four tenths of a second away. No improvement. Welcome to the fight, Charles Leclerc. So handily, they've gone nearly a full lap behind the Mercedes. Hamilton through to the final turn, but he's not improving. Can Charles Leclerc offer anything? Oh, he's on the limit of rear grip and over it once again in the hairpin. Fast hands through the hairpin at turn 11. Hamilton can't improve. Charles Leclerc is trying to extract everything from that Ferrari. So far, so quick. Oh, coaxing it into Spoon Curve. Oh, that is unbelievable. Charles Leclerc dancing on the edge. Julian Palmer taking a step back in the commentary box. It is spectacular, but can he be good enough for the front row? That one cost him too much. I've been wincing all weekend waiting for Charles to just lose it totally. He has been driving this like a speedway machine the whole way through, but I think that's cost him on the long run. Gasly to P7, Hajar in eighth. Charles Leclerc can't get to the front row. He can get ahead of a McLaren. It was spectacular, but it wasn't enough to interrupt the momentum of the Mercedes. And it's back to back pole positions in Formula 1 for Kimi Antonelli. He waited 26 starts to start at the front for a Formula 1 Grand Prix. Number 27, he's going to be in the same place. Still the driver to beat, and he will lead his teammate. It's not just pole, it's pole by nearly three tenths of a second. Nice work, Kimi. Pole position, mate. Let's go, man. It's a shame the last lap, because it was a good one. But yeah, good. I'm happy. It was a good quali. Happy. It was a good quali. Yeah, good clean session. Mercedes lock out the front row once again, and it's Kimi Antonelli who only out-qualified George Russell three times all season. Mercedes taking all three poles, but it's Kimi Antonelli now with two to his name.