Christian Horner saw something ominous in McLaren’s data before Max Verstappen stole Japanese Grand Prix pole

Max Verstappen scored his first pole position of the 2025 F1 season at the Japanese Grand Prix after denying McLaren pilots Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on Saturday.

First place seemed certain to head the way of the McLaren men at Suzuka until the very last moments of Q3. Norris and Piastri had set the pace throughout practice and they continued to lead across Q1 and Q2. Yet Verstappen extracted everything from his Red Bull to respond.

Just 0.044 seconds would split the front three as Verstappen denied Norris pole position for the Japanese GP by only 0.012s. The Dutchman made full use of Red Bull opting for a lower downforce set-up compared to McLaren, giving Verstappen a straight-line speed advantage.

Christian Horner thinks Lando Norris or Oscar Piastri should have scored Japanese GP pole instead of Max Verstappen

Verstappen had to hustle his RB21 through Suzuka’s iconic Esses sequence to overcome the 27-year-old’s inferior downforce levels compared to Norris and Piastri. Yet it paid off for the four-time reigning champion on the pit straight plus the run from Spoon to the last chicane.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner even thinks Verstappen’s Japanese GP pole lap was one of his greatest-ever qualifying performances. He claims the now 41-time pole-sitter put ‘everything together’ on Saturday, which was not the case with McLaren’s Norris and Piastri.

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Had Norris or Piastri maximised their potential, Horner is convinced a McLaren driver would have scored pole instead of Verstappen. The Red Bull boss saw from their data that McLaren had half a second in hand over them in practice, which was the difference for pole position.

Horner told Sky Sports F1 (05/04, 7:27): “They’ve turned the car upside down this weekend. In set-up, we’ve been around the houses with it, and Max and his team have done a great job. Just getting the car coming into the window, getting the tyres into the right place.

“Just putting everything together. I think the McLarens, if they had put their laps together, on the theoreticals they are half a tenth quicker. But they didn’t get their laps together. Max, he left nothing on the table. That was one of his best laps, I think, in qualifying ever.”

Max Verstappen stunned McLaren to score Red Bull’s first pole of 2025 at Suzuka

Verstappen came alive in qualifying to achieve the Red Bull driver’s first pole of the 2025 F1 season at the Japanese GP. He did not seem like a threat in Friday’s practice sessions, which had left Piastri fearing Mercedes ace George Russell in the fight for pole at the Japanese GP.

The Silver Arrows’ threat ultimately failed to materialise with Russell only able to qualify P5 and behind Ferrari star Charles Leclerc as well as Verstappen and the McLarens. Russell was 0.335s slower than Verstappen, slotting in 0.019 seconds behind the Scuderia racer with P4.

Now, McLaren will need one of their pilots to win a Grand Prix having not started from pole position for the first time this year to continue their perfect start to the season. It could also test Norris’ tyre management problems that Jacques Villeneuve thinks Piastri does not face.