The supersoft was used throughout the qualifying hour, apart from four drivers who ran the soft to set their quickest times in Q1. Once more, the general tendency of seeing faster times this season after bringing softer compounds than last year has continued, with this year’s pole position nearly three seconds faster than the 2016 equivalent. Despite the increased demands on the tyres and faster cornering speeds – which have led to the quicker lap times, with the lap record falling many times this weekend – it’s possible we’ll see a one stop race tomorrow, using a supersoft-soft strategy. A two-stopper could become interesting if conditions are significantly warmer than in qualifying today. However, the variable weather here means that Sepang is always one of the hardest races to predict.