Max Verstappen: "Overall, in qualifying the laps have been very nice and it was a great result for the Team.

"In the last lap I tried to push a bit more and I was gaining quite nicely in sector one, but ran out of tyres at the end so lost a bit of time which was a shame. We have to work on our long runs as we have not been fully happy with these and still feel like we can work to control the balance of the car a bit more. It wasn't perfect, but to still be on pole on a lap that I felt like could have been better, is great. We made some good changes within the car and I really enjoyed sector one; around here it is really fun to drive and the car is improving every year, especially in the high speed. All in all, the Team has a front row start, which is a perfect start to the race tomorrow, but I expect it to be very competitive. It is great to be here, the support is always amazing and hopefully we can give the fans a good race."

Sergio Perez: "We have had a good weekend so far and made some really nice progress throughout qualifying today. Unfortunately, in the end we couldn't get totally hooked in for the final lap, I didn't get a nice exit into my lap and that was probably enough to miss pole today. I think generally we are a lot better placed with the car, if you remember last year here, we were seven tenths off Max and it was probably the hardest circuit in terms of balance, this season things are looking a lot different and the confidence is coming back. Having a nice balance around Suzuka doesn't compare to anything else in the world, today was very enjoyable. Max and I have been on par all weekend, I think we will be close tomorrow and we have everything to fight for."

Christian Horner: "A brilliant qualifying today from both drivers. That's our 27th front row lock out and Checo's finest performance in qualifying here, furthering his previous best of P4. Of course there are still things that we will look to improve on for tomorrow but it was another stunning lap from Max and we are really pleased to have both the cars on the front row. I think the race will be a little closer but today puts us in a great position to race well as we look to carry this pace into Sunday."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Suzuka here.