My main issue today was a lack of grip, especially in Q3. The feeling on the Intermediate tyre wasn’t that bad but when we put the Wets on it was really tricky. It seems at the moment that this year’s car struggles a bit in the wet and we need to look into why it is different to last year’s. We have already experienced that we struggle to get heat into the tyres and today that really showed. Usually I feel comfortable enough to lay down a lap in these conditions but I just was not able to today. I feel, due to the rain, we have missed an opportunity to have a really strong Qualifying so that is a bit frustrating. We weren’t happy this morning in the dry but we made some setup changes that I think would have made it better for Qualifying, had it not rained. This gives me confidence tomorrow but starting from P7 here does not make it easy. I think it is supposed to be dry and really warm for the race. That said we didn’t expect this today so let’s wait and see what we get tomorrow.

It just seems we were unlucky today. We had the Soft tyres we had to use and we thought they would have been safe enough for Q1. It made life difficult but it was good enough, just. Then obviously the rain came at the start of Q2 and the first car on track was getting a big advantage and the better conditions. In my first timed lap, the one that had to count in the end, I had Stroll spin in front of me so I had to abort and then it just got wetter and wetter and that was the only opportunity to make a good lap. The following laps it was too wet and in the last sector I was just trying to survive. We had to put the Wets on, but they were never going to be as quick as the Inters as the conditions of the track got much worse compared to the beginning. It was more bad luck than bad strategy though. Tomorrow obviously, I will try to move forward as fast as possible, I think we have the pace, but from 12th is a long way. I’ll overtake, I’ll find a way!

A frustrating Qualifying for us today. The rain, which began before Qualifying and fluctuated throughout the sessions, created challenging conditions. After navigating safely through Q1, Daniel unfortunately had to abandon his lap on the Intermediate tyres following Stroll’s spin, thereafter conditions worsened, necessitating extreme tyres and he could not improve on his lap time, eliminating him from Q3. Max initially looked strong in Q3 but as the rain again increased, track conditions and visibility worsened and the grip wasn’t there for him to challenge the leading times. P7 and P12 are not where we would hope to start tomorrow’s grand prix, however in dry conditions our race pace has looked competitive through the weekend, so we hope we can take advantage and progress through the field. As we saw today the weather can change quickly here too so it could yet be a very interesting race.