Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: Today was mixed in many senses. The wet conditions for FP3 were not unexpected and with the rain potentially lasting into Qualifying, we opted to run on both the full wet and the intermediate tyres in FP3. Both drivers were happy with their cars and were able to complete good, unhindered runs. We obviously showed good pace in the wet, which was encouraging and enjoyable. However, with Qualifying ultimately taking place in dry conditions, we knew that we would struggle more. Again, both drivers had good clean runs in qualifying and perfect laps from either would’ve seen them into Q2. However, with the wind picking up, getting that perfect lap was difficult. Both drivers came close to perfect, but both struggled in the final long corners. It was a shame to miss out having done so many good things today, but that is how tight it is at the moment.
There could be further rain tomorrow and as we have seen here many times before, a lot can happen in the race; we’ll be ready to take any opportunity that we get.
Alex Albon: I was really happy with my qualifying lap. It was tricky going from the wet FP3 to a dry qualifying, the wind changed and we were missing a little bit of downforce. We’re very fast down the straights, but that is not the most helpful round this track. But we’ll do a rain dance ahead of tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do strategy wise.
Nicholas Latifi: After a positive FP3 in the wet, we had to reset the expectations for Qualifying with it being dry. I was looking to be on the cusp of Q2, but I missed the last corner quite bad. It’s frustrating to make a mistake in the final corner with snap of oversteer on entry after a big tailwind. I was surprised to hear I had a purple sector one. However, we’re still missing downforce from the package, so we know where we need to improve. It’s difficult to overtake here but we’ll be looking to capitalise on any opportunities that may come in the race tomorrow.
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