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After securing P11 on qualifying, Max Verstappen has branded his Red Bull car "undriveable".
The Dutch driver, who has won at Suzuka for the past four years, dropped out in Q2 in another shock since the 2026 F1 season began.
Talking to Sky Sports F1, Max noted, "The car never turns mid-corner, but at the same time this weekend, it's just oversteering a lot on entry. It's really difficult, unpredictable."
"We thought we'd fixed it a little bit in FP3, I mean there was still a lot of understeer in the car, but now in qualifying for me it was again undriveable, so that's something that we need to look at," he added.
Verstappen, who finished sixth in Melbourne and retired from the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago, said, "We have problems that I cannot explain in detail here."
Meanwhile, Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli has claimed his second successive pole position for Sunday's race.
The Italian driver recorded an impressive time of 1:28.778, leaving his teammate George Russell 0.298 seconds behind him.
McLaren's Oscar Piastri landed P3 for the Japanese Grand Prix, while Charles Leclerc secured fourth position after an error at Spoon curve.
World champion Lando Norris, who has been hit issues regarding his car throughout the practice sessions was fifth and Lewis Hamilton was sixth in the second Ferrari.
