Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz though sought the lead, and were the closest rivals in third and fourth with Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who thrilled with his pace in practice, lining up fifth for Aston Martin.
Verstappen had been shaky in practice, but the Netherlands driver found the moment when he needed it, resulting in a perfect gift for his father Jos, who is celebrating his 51st birthday: the 21st pole position of his career.
“I hope you were looking, I’m pretty sure you were looking,” he said. “It’s been a bit of a tough start to the weekend, yesterday and today I didn’t find my rhythm, but luckily in qualifying we managed to put the best pieces together,” said Max.
“The truth is that I was positively surprised that we were on pole after the problems I had in practice,” he added. “Normally our racing car is better so we’ll see,” Verstappen said.
Mercedes qualified sixth and seventh with George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.
Alonso’s teammate, Canadian Lance Stroll, who suffered a broken wrist in a cycling accident in Spain last month and missed practice, which is why he will start from eighth.
Esteban Ocon finished ninth in the Renault-owned Alpine, with Nico Hulkenberg closing out the top 10 for Haas.
USA’s Logan Sargeant was the highest placed finisher among the three rookies, placing his Williams 16th on the grid with teammate Alex Albon 15th.
Australian Oscar Piastri will debut in 18th position for McLaren, which disappointed with Lando Norris in 11th after failing to get past the second phase.
(With information from Reuters)