Red Bull's Max Verstappen moved one step closer to being crowned the 2022 Formula 1 World Champion; qualifying on the pole for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit, Mei Prefecture, Japan.

Verstappen can win the 2022 World Championship, his second, by winning the Japanese Grand Prix and scoring a fastest lap point.

Saturday, before being able to claim the pole position, the Belgian-Dutch driver was cleared by the stewards for an incident with McLaren's Lando Norris on their first Q3 out-laps.

"I was just, you know, driving quite slow and I wanted to accelerate but my tyres were quite cold. So then I had a big moment," said Verstappen at the Post Qualifying press conference. "And then of course, Lando was trying to pass me at the same time, so he had to avoid me a little bit, but luckily, nothing happened."

Max Verstappen was handed a reprimand for "losing control" of his car during the Q3 session.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc qualified second, just 0.010 seconds behind the 2021 World Champion.

Leclerc's teammate, Carlos Sainz, qualified third, 0.057 seconds off the qualifying pace.

"It was an extremely close qualifying session: we missed pole position by just one hundredth of a second with Charles and half a tenth with Carlos," said Laurent Mekies, Ferrari Assistant Team Principal. "It's a shame as we know on this track pole is very important, however there were still a lot of positives for us today, as our car was very competitive with both drivers."

"The car felt good and it's always great to drive on this track, especially in the first sector because it has so much grip," said Leclerc. "It's a very fast lap, but the more you push in the first sector, the slower you are in the last due to the tyres overheating."

Verstappen, Sainz and Leclerc ran the top three quickest times, respectively, in the earlier Free Practice session.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez had the fourth quickest qualifying time on Saturday. Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton ran the sixth quickest time.

Alpine Racing had an outstanding qualifying session with Esteban Ocon clocking the fifth quickest time and teammate, Fernando Alonso, finishing seventh quickest.

"We are very happy with our qualifying performance today and, clearly, our car is working well at this magnificent circuit where it's brilliant to be back racing," said Alan Permane, Alpine Sporting Director.

"We put together three solid qualifying sessions today where everything clicked into place and I think that is reflected on the timesheets," added Permane.

Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel qualified ninth - the first time the German native made it into Q3 since Baku.

"I had a wonderful day today. We will see what we can do tomorrow, but I am just very happy about today," said Vettel. "At the same time, I am a bit sad - because it is the last time I will ever tackle this track in qualifying trim."

George Russell qualified eighth with Lando Norris rounding out the top 10.

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QUALIFYING RESULTS
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Pos	Driver		Team		Time	Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:29.304	145.457 mph
2	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:29.314	0.010
3	Sainz		Ferrari		1:29.361	0.057
4	Perez		Red Bull	1:29.709	0.405
5	Ocon		Alpine		1:30.165	0.861
6	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:30.261	0.957
7	Alonso		Alpine		1:30.322	1.018
8	Russell		Mercedes	1:30.389	1.085
9	Vettel		Aston Martin	1:30.554	1.250
10	Norris		McLaren		1:31.003	1.699
11	Ricciardo	McLaren		1:30.659	
12	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:30.709	
13	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:30.808	
14	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:30.953	
15	Schumacher	Haas		1:31.439	
16	Albon		Williams	1:31.311	
17	Gasly		AlphaTauri	1:31.322	
18	Magnussen	Haas		1:31.352	
19	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:31.419	
20	Latifi		Williams	1:31.511


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FP3 - RESULTS
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Pos	Driver		Team		Time	Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:30.671	143.264 mph
2	Sainz		Ferrari		1:30.965	0.294
3	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:30.980	0.309
4	Alonso		Alpine		1:31.320	0.649
5	Perez		Red Bull	1:31.514	0.843
6	Russell		Mercedes	1:31.530	0.859
7	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:31.589	0.918
8	Norris		McLaren		1:31.747	1.076
9	Ocon		Alpine		1:31.750	1.079
10	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:31.838	1.167
11	Ricciardo	McLaren		1:31.860	1.189
12	Albon		Williams	1:31.946	1.275
13	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:31.971	1.300
14	Vettel		Aston Martin	1:32.222	1.551
15	Magnussen	Haas		1:32.290	1.619
16	Schumacher	Haas		1:32.366	1.695
17	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:32.377	1.706
18	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:32.385	1.714
19	Latifi		Williams	1:32.868	2.197
20	Gasly		AlphaTauri	1:32.881	2.210

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media)