A very frustrating end to a qualifying session that held so much promise for us, and which could have really lifted the team after such a difficult week. The last lap of my second run was very strong and I thought ‘Wow, we have a chance at Q2 here’. Then I came up to the Hangar Straight and I just saw this massive rain front ahead of me. The last sector was massively wet, whereas before it was very dry, and I thought ‘I can’t believe it. We’re going to lose everything.’ In the last two corners there was no grip and I just couldn’t continue the pace to keep on pulling out the gap, so in the end we ended up where we normally are position-wise. I’m disappointed for the team, but to look at the positive, we could have had a surprise result today as the car seems to be working well. We have to accept it and carry the promise through to tomorrow and see what the weather will do for us.

A very disappointing day for me. This morning we were working hard to ensure a positive result, but we experienced a fuel pick-up problem first and I was stuck on track. We managed to get the car back quite quickly which meant we could try to get back out – and we did, with 15 minutes to spare – but then soon after the car stopped again for a different reason, so there wasn’t much luck in that session. After some changes to the car in the break, with the engine and gearbox, we were building slowly towards the final run and my first two sectors were strong. Then the rain hit in the last sector and I had to slow for the Yellows which came out for Timo’s spin, so I didn’t get the chance to continue the improvement into sector 3. It’s disappointing but we have to hope for a more positive end to the week. I would like to thank the team for their great work in the lunch break today to ensure we weren’t delayed for the start of qualifying.

All in all, a very frustrating day for us and it seemed to all turn on the knife-edge that the weather produces here. After a tough morning we seemed to get our rhythm back for qualifying and both Timo and Charles were looking strong in their final runs. Timo in particular seemed to be enjoying a well-balanced car with the benefit of our new upgrades and was going great guns in the early part of his final lap. We could see the weather closing into the last sector and in the end it just got the better of both drivers, with Timo unfortunately spinning, but thankfully collecting it well to avoid any damage. Charles hit the same wall of rain and lost out on the chance to improve also. Disappointment aside, we do at least have some positives signs from our upgrade today, so we hope for better things tomorrow and all the fantastic support of our home crowd.