The Sunday couple
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been team-mates since 2021 and in the 70 qualifying sessions they have contested together, one of them has started from pole position 36 times, just three of those courtesy of the Mexican. Considering the technical superiority of the Red Bull cars over the past three years and a bit, one could imagine that the cars designed by Adrian Newey were no strangers to a front row lockout. In fact, this latest one at Suzuka is only the third time that the pair have found themselves heading the field at the end of qualifying. Before today, they did it in Bahrain last year and in Abu Dhabi in 2022.
Over the same time period Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have ensured an all-Ferrari front row three times (Miami and Monaco 2022 and Mexico 2023). Mercedes has done it four times, three of those in 2021 courtesy of Hamilton and Bottas and one in 2022 when George Russell was alongside the seven times world champion.
However, it's a completely different story on Sundays: since 2021, Verstappen and Perez have secured a one-two finish 13 times, Leclerc and Sainz twice and Russell and Hamilton once. And surely that's the point, as the saying goes, the points are given out on Sunday, if one ignores the intrusion of the Saturday sprint races!
