Red Bull were celebrating after qualifying for the 2025 Japanese Grand Prix as Max Verstappen scored pole, but not every F1 team and driver was happy this Saturday.
Verstappen left McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri shell-shocked at Suzuka after he stole pole position from under their noses. The Red Bull star hit the top of the timesheets with a late hurrah in Q3 to clinch P1 by only 0.012 seconds to Norris and by 0.044s to Piastri.
The Red Bull garage was not an entirely joyous location, though, as Yuki Tsunoda only sealed P15 in qualifying for the Japanese GP following his promotion to replace Liam Lawson. But it was another drivers’ qualifying performance that Ted Kravitz has branded ‘pretty disastrous’.
Ted Kravitz dubs Aston Martin ace Lance Stroll’s Japanese GP qualifying ‘pretty disastrous’
Kravitz feels Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll will need a lot more luck in the Japanese GP on Sunday after bowing out in Q1 for the fourth season in a row at Suzuka. The 26-year-old had the slowest lap time of any driver in the first stage of qualifying after posting just a 1:29.271.
Stroll was 1.584 seconds off the chart-topping pace of Piastri in Q1 to miss out on a Q2 spot by 0.717s to Lawson, on his return to Racing Bulls. Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso was also 0.934s faster than Stroll in Q1, but he could only manage the 13th-fastest lap in Q2.
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Alonso will start the Japanese GP in P12 as Carlos Sainz received a three-place grid drop for impeding Lewis Hamilton. But Kravitz thinks Stroll will need to fill in the eyes of the Daruma dolls lining the Suzuka paddock to gain their good luck after failing to extract his car’s speed.
“P13 in the end, in Q2, and that was all she had said Fernando Alonso,” Kravitz said on Ted’s Notebook. “So, he will be needing to fill in the eye of the Daruma doll.
“Although, maybe Lance Stroll will need to do it a bit more because it was a pretty disastrous Q1 for Lance Stroll. Out in Q1 for the fourth year in a row and last on the grid. Lance and the car are quicker than that.”
Lance Stroll stunned Jacques Villeneuve after leading Aston Martin in Australia and China
Stroll could only qualify in P20 for the Japanese GP after the Aston Martin driver failed to set a competitive lap time in Q1. The Canadian – at his 172nd Grand Prix entry – was caught out by the gust of a tailwind around 16-17km/h (9-10mph) faster than he had expected at Turn 6.
It will quickly wipe the smile from the Montreal native’s face after Jacques Villeneuve shared his surprise at Stroll’s turnaround at the start of the Formula 1 season. He led Aston Martin’s efforts in Australia and China after Alonso failed to finish either of the first two Grands Prix.
Stroll was also just 0.030s slower than Alonso in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, was 0.073s faster in qualifying for the Shanghai Sprint – which he finished 13.302s in front – and 0.085s slower in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix. Yet Stroll endured a shocker in Japan.
