Making the top ten is a great way to start the season. We did a great job throughout qualifying and I was really pleased with my lap in Q2. The key today was to avoid mistakes and be consistent. It will be interesting to see where we stand in the race but it’s never easy to overtake on this track so starting in the top ten is important. Hopefully we can hold position and make up some ground at the start. As I always say, it doesn’t matter where you start the season, but where you finish. There is great potential in this car and I’m confident we can keep improving as the year goes on.

My best lap today was affected by traffic. I came across Grosjean, who was on an out lap, at turn nine and it definitely cost me a few tenths. It’s a real shame because I really felt good with the car today and we had the speed to progress to at least Q2. All I can do now is try and make up some positions at the start and see how things play out in the race. I think we look quite competitive with our race pace so we can still come away with a good result.

Qualifying was very tight, just as we expected, but we made Q3 with Sergio delivering some clean and tidy laps. Lance’s session was compromised by Grosjean staying on the racing line on his slow lap, which cost Lance a few tenths and the chance to progress to Q2. With such a tight midfield, we can’t afford to give anything away and those tenths proved costly. We expect things to be just as close tomorrow. Our race pace looks consistent based on the long runs we did on Friday, but this race is all about track position so a good opening lap will play a big part in our final result. Scoring points remains our target.