The championship leader set a first lap in the final stage of qualifying that was more than good enough for pole, but proved his quality further by beating his own benchmark by over a tenth to beat second-placed Oscar Piastri by 0.581s.
Red Bull's renewed vigour followed a disappointing Singapore weekend in which the team struggled to find pace and lost both cars in Q2 as Verstappen was knocked out at the end by Liam Lawson.
