Verstappen has been in control of the Shanghai weekend since storming from fourth to an imperious first in the sprint race earlier in the day, and the Dutchman set two laps in the pole shootout for tomorrow’s grand prix that would have been good enough for pole position.
His final time of 1 minutes 33.660 seconds secured him top spot comfortably, with teammate Sergio Pérez locking out the front row for Red Bull Racing 0.322 seconds further back.
Verstappen won the sprint by a foreboding 13 seconds after taking the lead with 10 laps to go, and the Dutchman warned that his RB20 had been only improved in the hours between the short race and qualifying.
“I think the sprint race gave us a few more ideas for the car, and I think the car worked even better for qualifying,” he said. “I’m definitely very happy with how qualifying went. The car was really nice to drive. That final lap was pretty decent.”
Pérez’s qualifying hour was markedly less smooth thanks to a traffic jam that cost him his first lap in Q1 and put him at risk of elimination.
The Mexican just squeaked through in 15th, from which point he was able to build enough momentum that would eventually take him to the front row.
“It was very intense,” he said. “It was just a very messy start to qualifying.
“Unfortunately in the end it was just not enough to get Max, but overall it’s a tremendous team result.
“I think it’s everything to play for tomorrow. We can be fighting from there and we can definitely have a strong race.”
Fernando Alonso was an impressive third despite a mistake in the first two corners on his final lap, where his Aston Martin car has been at its strongest all weekend.
The Spaniard said the result left him optimistic for tomorrow’s race after a losing a possible podium in the sprint to a puncture.
“We didn’t give up,” he said. “We kept pushing all through the lap. We set a good lap time. I think the car improved since this morning.
“We’ve made a few set-up changes. Let’s see tomorrow if we can transfer that.”
McLaren overperformed at the Shanghai circuit relative to expectations, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri closely matched in fourth and fifth on the grid.
Ferrari, inversely, was mystified to have Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz qualifying sixth and seventh on the grid and 0.6 seconds off pole, the Italian team having been tipped to be a contender ahead of the weekend.
George Russell was a subdued eighth for Mercedes and 0.773 second adrift, but his afternoon was markedly better than that of teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was knocked out of qualifying a woeful 18th.
Hamilton said he took some set-up gambles in anticipation of a tough afternoon, but they left him vulnerable from the off, and a small mistake at the final hairpin was enough to see him eliminated in Q1.
Nico Hülkenberg put his Haas car ninth but is under threat of a post-session stewards investigation for a traffic jam in pit lane at the start of Q1.
Valtteri Bottas got Sauber into Q3 for the first time of the season, qualifying 10th.
Lance Stroll exhibited none of Alonso’s grit on his way to 11th, qualifying just ahead of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Alpine teammates Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly qualified 13th and 15th, sandwiching Thai driver Alex Albon, whose Williams car was too unpredictable to marshal any higher on the grid.
Shanghai native Zhou Guanyu missed out on a top-15 berth by just 0.048 seconds after locking up at the final hairpin. The Sauber driver will line up 16th ahead of Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton after the seven-time champion was shockingly eliminated from Q1.
Hamilton overran the same hairpin that cost Zhou a Q2 berth and cost himself 0.6 seconds in the process, leaving him on the second-last row on the grid.
Yuki Tsunoda was at a loss to explain his 19th place grid slot after what he felt had been a good lap that put him ahead of only Logan Sargeant, who spun his Williams car off the track on his final flying lap.