Up until today, Mercedes had secured every Japanese Grand Prix pole position in the turbo-hybrid engine era. Sebastian Vettel put an end to that record as Ferrari managed to keep the Silver Arrows away from the front-row.
In practice, it was Valtteri Bottas who ruled the waves with two P1 finishes. But the single-lap pace on the Mercedes car wasn't enough to give them the result during Sunday's qualifying session.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was downbeat in his Sky Sport's interview following the qualifying session. He trusts the race-pace is strong enough to tackle Ferrari but insists it's a problem to be behind at the start.
"An upset. It should be a good track for us and Ferrari, once again, from Friday out of nowhere once they package it all together they are very quick," says Mercedes boss Toto Wolff to Sky F1.
"The car is generally well-balanced but we are just lacking on one lap at the moment. On the race pace we are looking good, but obviously if you're starting behind it's a problem."