It was not an easy qualifying session, but in the end everything went to plan. I did struggle in Q1 and Q2, and I’ve been fighting some understeer in the car all weekend, especially through the first sector. We never really managed to dial it out of the car, but it didn’t hurt us too much because I was able to pull together two good laps and that was enough to get me up to eighth. The times were very close and I think it will be the same tomorrow, but our long-run performance looks competitive so I think we can definitely race the people around us and come away with points.

The car was capable of Q3 today but once again my lap in Q2 was compromised by traffic. There were some cars backing off in the last three corners and that cost me those crucial tenths I needed to make Q3. So I’m a little bit disappointed because I didn’t get the most from the session. We are out of position on the grid, but there’s still all to play for in the race because the car was very strong yesterday during the long runs and we can be confident going into the race.

It was a wonderful effort by Nico to pull out some excellent laps and qualify in eighth, just edging ahead of the Mercedes pair. After practice we were still not sure where we stood, but we knew that we were in with a shout of making the top ten. Today’s result means that we have had at least one car in Q3 for the last ten races, which is a credit to the team’s hard work this year. On the other side of the garage it’s frustrating that Paul hit traffic at the crucial moment of qualifying. He had been up on Nico’s time in sectors one and two, and was just unlucky in the final part of the lap. As for the race tomorrow we are confident that we can deliver strong race pace and our target is to get both cars in the points.