Lewis Hamilton claimed a 71st career pole as he smashed the Suzuka lap record with a time of 1:27.319, placing his Mercedes in the premium grid position for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix. The pole marks Hamilton's first at Suzuka, having claimed two previous Japanese GP poles, both of which came at Fuji. The Briton qualified ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, three-tenths back, but the Finn will start down in seventh when he serves his five-place grid penalty, promoting Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to the front-row. Vettel was almost half a second slower than his title rival but will be eyeing the lead into Turn 1 in an attempt to close his championship deficit. Daniel...
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