What the teams said – Sprint day and Qualifying in Qatar

McLaren

Piastri led from pole for the Sprint and was never troubled as he recorded his first Sprint win of the season and third on the bounce in Qatar. He did everything he could to reduce the Championship lead that his team mate enjoys, and in the end took two points out of Norris, who came home third. Norris had to work hard at the start after briefly challenging Russell for P2, and then had to defend with Verstappen behind having DRS in the early stages. But third place was more than enough to keep the Championship firmly in his own grasp.

When it came to Qualifying, the two team mates slugged it out all the way to the last laps of Q3. Norris grabbed provisional pole on the first runs, but was a spectator on the second runs after a mistake forced him to abandon at Turn 2. Piastri nailed his last lap to steal pole back, as McLaren locked out the front row.

Lando Norris, Sprint: 3rd, Qualifying: 2nd, 1:19.495

“Sprint and Quali done here in Qatar. The Sprint wasn't the most eventful, but it was useful ahead of tomorrow's Grand Prix.

"The front row is a good starting position for tomorrow's race. We saw in the Sprint how difficult it can be to overtake here, but with a longer race and some more strategy options, we'll see what we can do to fight for the win. We'll work this evening to prepare for the race and make sure we're in the best possible position for tomorrow's Grand Prix."

Oscar Piastri, Sprint: 1st, Qualifying: 1st, 1:19.387

"A great result to be on Pole and to have won the Sprint. I've been able to get comfortable in the car really easily here and the pace has been mega. Driving around here in these conditions is some of the most fun you can have in an F1 car, so it seems to have all clicked well. However, the big points are in the main race, so let's see what we can do tomorrow. Just got to keep focused, do what we can overnight and make sure we finish first."

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

"A very positive day for the team, with a first and third place in the Sprint and a one-two finish in Qualifying. Oscar was perfect today, it would be difficult to ask him to do a better job, and it was great to hear him so happy on his in-lap after Pole position. Lando didn't have perfect balance in the Sprint and in Qualifying a small mistake in his last attempt in Q3 cost him the chance to fight for Pole right to the end, but once again another strong effort and he’ll be on the front row of the starting grid.

"There is still a lot of work to do to prepare for the race and we have no intention of making calculations, especially because our main opponent will be right behind us, ready to take his chances. As always, we will focus on ourselves to maximise our starting positions."

Mercedes

Russell had to get his elbows out at the start, aggressively moving across the track to ensure Norris did not slip past. From there, he could not keep up with Piastri, but did well to stay ahead of Norris and hold onto second place. Antonelli also scored, as the teenager managed to sneak past Alonso when the Spaniard ran wide. But he was handed a five-second time penalty for track limit infringements and was fortunate to hold onto sixth.

Come Qualifying, both cars made it to Q3. Russell went for the double warm-up tactic, but just did not have the pace to fight for higher than fourth, as he was ably backed up by his team mate in fifth.

George Russell, Sprint: 2nd, Qualifying: 4th, 1:19.662

"We can be pleased to be starting P4 tomorrow; it’s a good place to be on the grid and gives us a solid opportunity to score strong points in our battle for P2 in the Constructors’ Championship. Obviously, being so close to P3 with such a small margin of just one hundredth between us and Verstappen is annoying, but the field is so close right now. Both McLarens were fast throughout and did an impressive job so I think P3 was the maximum we could have hoped for. Overall, we did a good job as a team with Kimi in P5, and we will be looking to secure P2 in the standings tomorrow.

"Tomorrow’s race will be interesting with the tyre stint limit making it a mandatory two-stop race. The car balance has felt good this weekend so I’m hopeful that we can be in the race for the podium. We are looking forward and let’s see what the points situation is once the chequered flag falls."

Kimi Antonelli, Sprint: 6th, Qualifying: 5th, 1:19.846

"I am not fully satisfied with P5 today as I know we had a little bit more pace to show. That said, it is still a solid place to be starting tomorrow's race from and gives us a good chance of banking a decent number of points.

"My final lap in qualifying wasn’t perfect. I had a strong second sector but struggled more than the rest of the weekend to hook up the first sector. I lost the rear a little bit at turn one and that caused me to lose some momentum. That always makes it a little more difficult to recover the lost time through the rest of the lap. That was disappointing, however, we improved our performance considerably compared to yesterday’s sessions and I am sure we will be able to maximise the potential of the car tomorrow. Strategically, it should be a straightforward two-stop. The start, just like it did in today’s Sprint, is likely going to play a huge role in the outcome of the race, so that is where I need to gain as many positions as possible."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"That was a solid, if not spectacular, Saturday in Qatar. Coming into the weekend, our focus has been on continuing to score good points as we try to secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of the final race of the season. P2 with George in the Sprint plus Kimi bringing home a further three points has helped us extend our advantage slightly. A decent qualifying session, with the cars in P4 and P5, gives us a good opportunity to seal our place in the standings on Sunday.

"We aren’t getting ahead of ourselves though. The field is incredibly competitive with just one tenth of a second the difference between multiple places in qualifying today. We also saw how difficult it was to overtake in the Sprint so making sure we’re in a strong position after lap one tomorrow will be key. McLaren are clearly the reference this weekend, but we are within striking distance. It will be interesting to see how the strategy plays out with the mandatory stint lengths too. We will race hard, be looking to challenge for the podium, and hopefully do the job we need to in order to close out P2."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"That was another solid day in Qatar. In the Sprint, George didn't get off the line brilliantly but did well to hold position. Kimi had a decent start but couldn’t quite turn that into a gain of positions. Overtaking is challenging here so we knew that we would likely be looking to bank our positions from there. George did a good job to do that and pick up a Sprint podium whilst Kimi did well to pressure Alonso into a mistake. Unfortunately, he picked up a five0second penalty for track limits which without that would have given him P5; P6 was still useful points though.

"We didn't change the car much going into qualifying; it's always a bit of a balance between chasing more performance with setup changes and ending up with a car that the drivers find less compliant. This evening’s session ran smoothly but both drivers felt that they could have found a bit of time and been starting higher up the grid tomorrow; there were no glaring errors though and realistically McLaren were out of reach today. We scored useful points in the Sprint and have a good chance of adding to that tomorrow. If we can do so, we can be confident of sewing up P2 in the Constructors’ ahead of Abu Dhabi."

Red Bull

Both Verstappen and Tsunoda had strong starts, and both picked Alonso off the line. Tsunoda then yielded to his team mate, which allowed Verstappen to charge after Norris. The Dutchman had DRS for lap after lap, but eventually had to give up the fight as his tyres ran out of life in the dirty air. As for Tsunoda, he was handed a track limit penalty and had five-seconds added to his race time. Fortunately, Antonelli behind did likewise, so Tsunoda did not lose any places at the flag.

But the Japanese driver’s strong weekend did not continue as he exited Qualifying at the first time of asking. Verstappen made Q3 in a car that finally looked more balanced, but he did not have the pace to fight with the McLarens for pole tonight. He starts third, knowing he has to finish ahead of Norris to keep his Championship charge going.

Max Verstappen, Sprint: 4th, Qualifying: 3rd, 1:19.651

“It was a tough start to the weekend with the Sprint as we were not entirely happy with the behaviour of the car. We were a bit off the pace and, although we got a good start, there was still a bit of work to do with the car. In Qualifying, the performance of the car was better; there were a few limitations, including understeer, which this track can highlight, but we still maximised our performance. Before the session, we changed a few things with the car and make the most out of it with our prep. Overall, I’m pretty happy with P3 and we will see what we can do in the race. Hopefully we can have a strong day tomorrow and you never know what can happen around here, there are a lot of medium speed corners which we can tend to struggle with, but it will also be about looking after our tyres. The two-stop strategy can work for you or against you, but we will find out tomorrow. On race day, the most important thing will be to try and have a good start. We might struggle to stay with the McLarens, but you never know what can happen, we will try everything that we can."

Yuki Tsunoda, Sprint: 5th, Qualifying: 16th, 1:20.761

"Today was a mixed day, the Sprint was good for me and then Qualifying didn’t follow the same pattern. I got a good start in the Sprint, I could have maybe taken more risks but I wanted to keep the car safe. Max also got a good start and as a Team we were able to make it work and I could help Max out. I nearly lost out with the time penalty but I felt like I had a strong Sprint, with good pace. I don’t understand what then happened in Qualifying, we didn’t change much in the car, but I just didn’t have much grip and felt like I had lost the pace. My lap felt pretty tidy, probably tidier than yesterday, so I can’t fully explain what was different from Sprint Qualifying, it is very frustrating. I will do my best tomorrow and try to use the pace I had in the Sprint to overtake as much as possible."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

“We managed to recover a little from Friday in the Sprint, as Max did well to make up positions on a track on which it is tricky to pass. It was positive on Yuki's side too, he managed his best finish with the Team and carried on his good work from Sprint Qualifying. The Team, Max, and Yuki have never given up in the search for performance, and we had a fairly unpleasant car at times over the weekend. Everyone on track and back at base kept working to find the improvements and while we've not quite reached the pace of the McLarens, the gap has closed a little in Qualifying this evening. For Yuki, it was tough out there, he was only three tenths off Max, which on a track like this is nothing to be ashamed of and on any other day it would have been a strong session for him. Heading into the race tomorrow there is the mandatory two-stop in the race here, which could produce some surprises, and we will be ready to take any opportunity coming our way.”

Aston Martin

Starting fourth, Alonso dropped two places at the start as he struggled to get his medium tyres working. He then ran sixth for much of the race, but found tyre wear quite high and slid wide at one point which allowed Antonelli through. In the end he held onto seventh, and those two points were enough to lift Aston Martin ahead of Haas in the Championship. As for Stroll, he started on tyres that were seven laps old and thus had to pit. He bolted on the softs, so gained some crucial information ahead of Qualifying.

Alonso’s strong weekend continued apace as he made Q3 in Qualifying, but he could not quite match his P4 from yesterday. Eighth on the grid is still a very promising slot for tomorrow though. Stroll once again could not match the Spaniard, exiting at the first time of asking.

Fernando Alonso, Sprint: 7th, Qualifying: 8th, 1:20.418

"I was quite surprised we were able to fight for Q3 again tonight and I'm happy with P8. We only had four sets of new Softs in Qualifying, so we opted to use them in Q1 and Q2 and it meant we were left with used tyres at the end in Q3. We scored two points earlier in the Sprint, but I think it will be more difficult for us tomorrow as the tyre degradation is quite high. Every point is crucial at the moment for the Constructors', so we will give it our all."

Lance Stroll, Sprint: 19th, Qualifying: 19th, 1:21.058

"A frustrating day today qualifying in P19. I feel like I'm on the limit with the grip that I have and can't find any more pace. I felt pretty good in the car, but the lap time is just not coming together for me here and I didn't manage to go any quicker than that. It will be tricky tomorrow to fight back any positions as it's hard to overtake at this track, but we'll see what chances we get."

Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer

"It was good to score a couple of points in the Sprint earlier today with Fernando in P7 – an important result as we close out the season. Fernando carried this momentum into Qualifying ending the session in P8. He enjoys this track and the car has been more competitive here. Lance delivered clean laps but was not able to progress into Q2. Let's see what happens tomorrow. It's usually a track position race – with everybody mandated to stop twice – but we will be ready to capitalise on any opportunity."

Williams

Sainz managed to score in the Sprint, holding on to his starting position of P8. That was despite a chunk of his bodywork falling off midway through the race, which could easily have cost him lap time. Albon was slightly unlucky, he finished 10th and was within touching distance of Hadjar ahead, but ran out of time to try and make a move.

Sainz made the top 10 again in Qualifying, but came a cropper in Q3 when he found himself on an out-lap with some material caught around his rear tyre. That damaged the side of his car, so all things considered, seventh on the grid is a great result. Albon faded in Qualifying, managing just P15.

Alex Albon, Sprint: 10th, Qualifying: 15th, 1:20.629

"We made some balance and setup changes after the Sprint and the car felt better in qualifying which is a positive takeaway. Ultimately, we just didn’t have the grip today; I was sliding around a bit and struggled to get the tyres in the right window in Q2. We found that we had decent grip with used sets in Q1, so we’ll review the operating windows and our out laps to better understand performance. Overtaking was difficult on this track in the Sprint, with it being a quiet race with not much action from my side. As a team this track wasn’t expected to suit us, but I’m optimistic for tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do during the race to make up some positions."

Carlos Sainz, Sprint: 8th, Qualifying: 7th, 1:20.287

"Another good session and happy with P7. We took another step in the right direction and I think I extracted the maximum out of the car today. In Q3, the sticker on the floor of the garage stuck to my wheel and caused damage to the bodywork as it unravelled, but despite this I still managed to do a solid lap on the last attempt and secure a good starting position for tomorrow.

"We expect a good battle in the midfield and with two mandatory pit stops we are up for some interesting strategies. I’m confident we can execute a good race and hopefully bring more points for the team. Let’s race!"

James Vowles, Team Principal

"If anyone had said before the weekend that we'd be fighting in Q3 and qualifying in the top seven, we would have taken it. Well done to Carlos, brilliant execution, and well done to the team. It was really tricky getting the tyres into the right window today, but P7 was a brilliant result. It puts Carlos on the clean side of the grid and bodes well for tomorrow's race. In the case of Alex, it was just on a knife edge with everyone getting the tyres working, and we just couldn't get into the right window. He had snaps in turn one every time and couldn't show his performance today. We'll regroup overnight and review how we can create the best opportunities for him in the race tomorrow. He's still quick, it's just about maximising the opportunities."

Racing Bulls

Contrasting fortunes in the Sprint for the two Racing Bulls boys. Hadjar made a great start and ran ninth, showing that the car does have top-10 potential this weekend after a disappointing Sprint Qualifying. But Lawson struggled, and had to give a place back to Leclerc after only managing to get the Ferrari man by running off track.

Hadjar made up for his SQ2 exit yesterday by making it to the top-10 in Qualifying, grabbing sixth on the grid as the best midfield runner out there. Lawson did not make Q3 this time around, but is not out of contention in P12.

Isack Hadjar, Sprint: 9th, Qualifying: 6th, 1:20.114

"We had a pretty good Saturday and I’m happy with the performance we showed. This afternoon in the Sprint I had an awesome first lap, and if I hadn’t lost the position during a battle with Kimi and Carlos, then I would have probably been able to score a point. Later in Qualifying, I think we really extracted the maximum from the car as we couldn’t have finished higher up in the standings; P6 was really our best today. I felt the car was easy to drive and I reached the limit pretty quickly in the session, then from there I just made tiny steps lap by lap. Looking at tomorrow, it’s going to be important to have a good start even if we start from the wrong side of the grid. I expect it to be a full push race and the target is to score points.”

Liam Lawson, Sprint: 14th, Qualifying: 12th, 1:20.433

"The car has been very sensitive this weekend but it felt in a much better window compared to yesterday, meaning we ended Q1 in a good place. Unfortunately, very small changes make the car feel tricky to drive, so we barely improved in Q2. It's frustrating, but a step up from yesterday given our race pace was very good when the balance was there. We'll come together to make improvements ahead of the race tomorrow.”

Tim Goss, Chief Technical Officer

“A really good day for VCARB today in Qatar. Both drivers had good starts, good opening laps and gained places in the Sprint. Isack was briefly ahead of Sainz and into a points scoring position, but slipped back after attempting an overtake on Antonelli. He made up two places from his starting position and finished 9th. Liam had a great opening lap and settled in just behind Leclerc, gaining a total of three places to finish 14th. Overall we were pleased to make places and to show our car's race pace which was strong ahead of tomorrow. Qualifying was an exciting session. We knew both drivers had more to deliver than Sprint Qualifying and we proved it. Both drivers progressed through Q1 comfortably and retained new tyre sets for the later sessions. Q2 was extremely tight, and Liam just missed the cut into Q3. Isack progressed and ultimately delivered two fantastic laps to qualify an impressive 6th. Both drivers are well placed against our main competitors in the Constructor’s Championship and we look forwards to bagging some vital points in the race tomorrow.”

Kick Sauber

Kick Sauber did not mange to score in any of the Sprints this year, the only team not to do so. Bortoleto finished ahead of his team mate though, as he picked up a couple of places in the 19-lap dash and Hulkenberg lost a couple. Come Qualifying, both cars made Q2 which was good considering Bortoleto has a five-place grid drop to take.

But he wound up 14th, and thus drops to the last row of the grid tomorrow. Therefore, any chance of points falls to Hulkenberg, who is handily placed in P11.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sprint: 16th, Qualifying: 11th, 1:20.353

"It was a clean qualifying session for us: I’m relatively happy with the laps and the effort we put in, although it’s frustrating to miss out on Q3 for just three thousandths of a second. The margins were incredibly fine and that time was probably out there somewhere. Still, we are on the edge of the top ten and we have an extra set of soft tyres for tomorrow’s race: we’ve seen this morning, in the Sprint, how difficult overtaking can be, but we are competitive and we’re around cars we can fight.”

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sprint: 11th, Qualifying: 14th, 1:20.534

“The Sprint went quite okay for us. I gained two positions at the start, had a solid launch, and the pace felt decent, so I was pretty satisfied with that. Qualifying was a bit more challenging: I pushed a little too hard, ran slightly wide, and that was enough to cost me the lap. The rest of it wasn’t too bad, but it definitely wasn’t ideal. Tomorrow I’ll be starting P19 with the penalty from Las Vegas, so it won’t be an easy job. It’s a long race though, and we’ll take what we learned today and try to move forward up the grid.”

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal

“While today’s Sprint was rather uneventful for us, seeing Gabi finishing in P11 after making up two positions at the start, and Nico in P16, Qualifying was much more positive. I was particularly pleased with how the pitwall executed throughout the session, placing the cars in the right windows in traffic and managing the run plans cleanly. We had an encouraging start with both cars moving comfortably into Q2. Nico delivered very clean laps and missed out on Q3 by only 0.003 seconds, finishing P11. Gabi didn’t quite manage to perfectly execute his laps, and with the five-place grid penalty he carries from Las Vegas, he will start the race from P19.

“There is still everything to play for tomorrow. We need to finish ahead of our main competitors in what is a very tight battle in the Constructors’ Championship, and with limitations on tyre life, it might be an interesting race.”

Haas

Haas dropped to eighth in the Constructors' Championship after the Sprint, having watched their rivals Aston Martin score courtesy of Alonso. They did not have the pace to fight for the points, but will hope to have learned enough to challenge tomorrow in the Grand Prix. But the bad news for the American outfit is that once again Alonso is in the top 10, and once again neither Haas car is. Thus, they are up against it to try and retake that P7 slot tomorrow in the Grand Prix.

Esteban Ocon, Sprint: 15th, Qualifying: 17th, 1:20.864

“It was a difficult Sprint. The start was good, but after that, we picked up a lot of degradation and we couldn’t really keep up with the car in front, and being in traffic didn’t help. We tried to push things to the extreme in terms of set-up for qualifying, we really gave it our best go. It’s something we’ve never done as much to fix it, but we still have the underlying issue where we can’t put more front wing into the car, it’s still very loose on entry, and I still struggle to brake. I hope there’s going to be high degradation in the race, and if that’s the case, we can come back through the field and benefit from others, but at the moment, that’s our only hope.”

Oliver Bearman, Sprint: 12th, Qualifying: 13th, 1:20.438

“The Sprint was quite uneventful – the race was difficult with the balance that I had. I was struggling quite a lot, and that was getting worse as I went on, so for the last few laps I was really hanging on. We’ve learned a lot from this race, so we get to fix things for the race tomorrow. Yesterday, we were very uncompetitive in high-speed, so that’s really what we need to fix. We made a big step with the car for qualifying, which is positive, I had a much better feeling than I did this time yesterday. Unfortunately, in Q2 I think we chose the wrong approach, I went for two laps at the end, where in hindsight I think the peak of the tyre was in that first lap, but I was carrying the extra fuel of the run plan I was doing, so it’s fine margins. I’m going to remain open-minded and positive, we made a big step with the car, so I’ll look forward to tomorrow.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“In the Sprint, limitations were actually quite different from what we anticipated from yesterday’s Sprint Quali. It also gave us a good indication on what we needed to do for our qualifying set-up. Some areas were better, but there are other problems we still couldn’t solve, hence we’re still losing lap time in high-speed. It’s a shame to miss out on Q3 with Ollie, I don’t think we got the finer details right with tire usage on Q2. When the field is so tight, we have to get everything right. Tomorrow, we need to see how we make use of our pace, which I think is better than our qualifying position, but it won’t be easy.”

Ferrari

Leclerc made a poor start, immediately dropping out of the top-10. That left him in the midst of the midfield fights, and although he got close to Bearman, he could not find a way through. The car looked difficult again, with Leclerc running wide on occasion. Hamilton had opted for a pit lane start after changing his downforce levels, but that did not pay dividends, and he was unable to make any progress from the back of the field.

Hamilton’s day did not improve in Qualifying, as he exited in Q1 to make that two races in a row where he has dropped out at the first time of asking. Leclerc made Q3, but only had used tyres in the shootout. He then had a massive spin for good measure, managing just P10 in the end.

Charles Leclerc, Sprint: 10th, Qualifying: 3rd, 1:20.561

"We gave it our all. This weekend has been very tough so far. We just don’t have the pace needed in the car on this type of track and were struggling to put in good laps in qualifying. We can’t hide our disappointment. I don’t have big expectations for tomorrow, but I’ll try to reset and will do my best as always to bring home a good result for the team."

Lewis Hamilton, Sprint: 18th, Qualifying: 13th, 1:20.907

"P18 is a disappointing result and doesn’t reflect the hard work the team has put in over the last two days. Clearly this track doesn’t seem to suit our car and we’re still working to identify a set-up that meets its needs. We’ll keep pushing, analyse the data tonight, and look for every opportunity to put ourselves back in the points tomorrow."

Alpine

Alpine opted for a double pit lane start for their drivers, after changing their set-ups in a bid to find some improvements ahead of Qualifying and the Grand Prix. They then pitted both cars late on for the soft tyres, to gain some experience on the C3 rubber. What they did clearly paid dividends on Gasly’s side of the garage as the Frenchman made it to Q3 for the 10th time this season. He is well placed to fight for points tomorrow in P9.

Pierre Gasly, Sprint: 18th, Qualifying: 9th, 1:20.477

“I am very happy to be in Q3 for the tenth time this season. The team did a very good job today to make changes to the car, which felt a lot better and I was much more confident behind the wheel. We used the Sprint as a mini Practice session to try and understand a few things and make the necessary changes. The car felt much nicer to drive in Qualifying and we were able to put in a lot of good laps. After yesterday, I certainly did not think Q3 would be possible, so it just goes to show everyone's hard work and motivation within the team to find the right improvements. We will take the positives when we can and now we look forward to tomorrow's race. It is a mandatory two-stop for everyone with the limit on laps per tyre set. We saw today in the Sprint how hard it is to overtake here. We will need a good start, really fight for it, and hopefully we will be in the top ten at the end.”

Franco Colapinto, Sprint: 20th, Qualifying: 20th, 1:21.137

“It was not the best day on my side of the garage, particularly with how I drove today and my own performance. We made some positive improvements with the car between sessions, and it was just poor execution from my side. There was definitely more in the car and we didn't make the most of it today. For the Sprint, we decided to make some changes to the set up and used the session as a test. It was good to learn a few things and make some positive changes. The car immediately felt better on the first lap in Q1 but unfortunately, I ran wide into the gravel on the exit of Turn 15. I also made a mistake on my second push lap again running into the gravel on the exit kerb. Then we put everything on the final lap and we didn't do enough to progress. Overall, it was a messy session and one we take on the chin and quickly move on from.”

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director

“It has been an interesting past 24 hours where we have been able to completely transform our prospects for this race weekend courtesy of a lot of hard work and good decision making within the team. We decided to compromise our Sprint Race by changing the set up on both cars, meaning a Pit Lane start, in order to find improvements ahead of Qualifying, which clearly has worked. On Franco's side, while the car felt better, he probably knows he left some lap time on the table and we will continue to work with him in order to do a better job next time. Pierre has put himself in a great position for tomorrow's race where he will start in ninth place. He was really dialled in and put in some fantastic laps. We know we have the 25-lap limit per tyre set tomorrow so it will be interesting to see what teams decide to do on strategy and we will do our best to put ourselves in a competitive position to score points.”

Pirelli

Mario Isola, Motorsport Director

“The only difference in tyre choice for the sprint race was new or used mediums, depending on the results from sprint qualifying – as the few drivers not to get through SQ1 were able to use new tyres. Three drivers also made a pit stop in the sprint race to try out the soft tyres, probably to assess their potential use in Sunday’s grand prix.

"Just as was the case last year, we saw some tyres where graining had accelerated wear: taking it to the maximum but without any loss of performance. These instances, noted mainly on the front-left tyres, are exactly why the limit of 25 laps on each set has been imposed.

"The considerably faster lap times compared not only to last year but also the latest simulations has led to a bigger increase in loads on the tyres than expected. As a precaution, we already prescribed an increase in minimum pressures of 1 psi on both axles at the end of Friday.

"We saw some more cuts on some of the tyre treads during Saturday, but fewer than Friday. The two pit stops expected on Sunday should mitigate this issue. Looking ahead to the race, the sets of mediums kept back by the teams lead to the conclusion that most could go for two stints on the yellow tyre. The fastest strategy is with a final stint on the soft, following a pit stop between laps 44-50. The use of the hard C1 at the beginning, or alternatively between two medium C2 stints, would allow the pit stops to be spread out more evenly during the race – but this is theoretically slower than a strategy that uses all three available compounds.

"Medium-hard-soft is the second-quickest tactic on paper, with pit stop windows that are identical to the fastest strategy: between laps 19-25 and 46-50, in accordance with the lap limit. If there are no safety cars, we believe that the teams are likely to maximise the 25 laps allowed for each set.

"Another strategy using all three compounds could be hard-medium-soft, with a shorter final stint to the flag. In short, there are plenty of options on the table.”