A poor qualifying session for the new Red Bull driver shouldn't count Yuki Tsunoda out of the game at the Japanese Grand Prix.

So far, so good. Verstappen posted the fifth-fastest time during Friday’s first practice session, with a lap of 1:29.065. Tsunoda was just behind him in sixth, a little over a tenth off Verstappen’s time with a lap of 1:29.

Yuki Tsunoda finally has his promotion at Red Bull. He was elevated last week and Liam Lawson was demoted to Red Bull’s second team — Racing Bulls — after failing to score points in the season’s first two races.

Max Verstappen did something really special to take pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix but he faces a challenge to keep the McLarens behind.

A “magical” final lap from Max Verstappen propelled the Red Bull driver to pole position for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, knocking the much-fancied McLarens off top spot, much to everyone’s surprise.

There is only so much you can extrapolate from one-and-a-bit practice sessions on a day when the only thing really catching fire was the grass around the Suzuka circuit. But it is fair to say that Yuki Tsunoda’s first day in a Red Bull was a qualified success.