I’m quite happy with eighth place. It was a tough qualifying session and very hard to judge the conditions. Some parts of the track were wet and other areas were dry, so it was difficult to know how much to push. I also struggled to get the heat in the tyres, so it was not easy to get it altogether for one lap. The most important lap for me was just after the red flag: we all queued up at the end of the pit lane – a bit like a race start – and I knew I had one chance to make Q2. Fortunately it worked out well for me.

It’s very frustrating to be starting in P17 so we need to sit down and analyse exactly what happened. Something went wrong with the seamless shift software during my first run in Q1 and when I came in the team tried to fix it. It was only a small issue, but we lost valuable time trying to find a solution. Meanwhile the track was getting faster and faster. By the time I had got back out it was raining again and therefore we missed the track at its best. There’s not much you can do in that situation, but it’s a massive disappointment given how competitive the car was yesterday. I’ll try and take the positives because you can overtake on this track and the car is strong. We need to come up with a masterplan tonight and I will be pushing hard tomorrow.

Another excellent effort by Adrian to qualify eighth given how difficult the conditions were today. He was struggling to get the intermediates to work, but he delivered some excellent laps just when it mattered to secure his place in the top ten. Paul’s session was disrupted by a small software issue, which meant he missed out on the optimal track conditions and couldn’t show his true potential. When he did get out at the end of Q1, his best lap was totally compromised by Rosberg, who spun in front of him. It proved very costly and has given Paul a lot of work to do in the race. We know he will keep his head down tomorrow and with dry weather expected he can hopefully demonstrate the inherent pace of the car.