We were just a bit too slow today and I think we had quite a big gap to those out in front. It is quite difficult as we were really struggling for grip, which didn’t allow me to push hard. In some corners we had different balance, so it was hard to get good references for every single lap. I think it will likely be quite similar to tomorrow and tough on tyres. I tried to do the best that we could and get the best lap possible, but it wasn’t easy. In the Sprint today we still finished P3, even though we did have a bit of degradation, so that was a good result for us. We will try and maximise everything that we can and the Team will work hard to make some changes in the car that I hope will make things better for the race. I don’t expect a night and day difference as we lack race performance and it will be difficult to keep up with the cars ahead, but we will see ahead of tomorrow. It is one of my favourite races on the calendar so it should still be fun.

It was important for me to gain some experience in the Sprint race this morning, and I think it was a decent race for us where I also had fun battling with some of the other drivers. Towards the end of the race, we had a very good pace, in a circuit where tyre degradation is pretty high for everyone. It seemed that for us it was better than the other midfield cars around, but I think we can still improve and we have some ideas on how to make a further step forward.
This afternoon, Q1 was fantastic. I think I had my best balance there and I felt very good in the car. Then throughout Q2 and Q3, the wind changed, which impacted the feeling I had whilst I was driving. It was an intense and stressful Q3, and I was obviously very excited to be out there with the top guys, but at the same time, I’m a bit gutted about my final lap as I think there was still a bit more lap time to find. After Melbourne, the team did a great job coming here to Shanghai and maximizing the package in a very different circuit. The car works perfectly and we’ll do our best to try and get some points tomorrow.

A strong Sprint race today, it was not certainly easy. I’m impressed with how the pace was throughout. I thought it was going to be a very tough race, but we were able to hold off quite well and keep the top teams behind. I definitely enjoyed it. Towards the end I had quite a lot of degradation, which I wasn’t expecting, but I was happy that I was able to maximise the performance of the car and squeeze the last couple of points in the bag, especially losing big points last week.
In Quali, I’m happy that we have both cars in the mix, we are performing super super good. A big credit to the team here and in the factory, the amount of effort they’ve done, it’s massive, such a fantastic job. As for myself, I struggled in Q3, I made a bit of a mistake there. I had a bit of momentum in T13, I went off the track and wasn’t able to finish the lap. Until then it was a good lap. Isack did a very good job as well, he bounced back really strong. We’re in the mix for sure, we just need to put it all together with strategy, but I think there’s potential for both cars to score points tomorrow like we did in the Sprint race.

It was a messy session and had we not dealt with traffic, it might have been ok, but it is still not good enough to be having these issues, we should be fast enough on our first lap. We shouldn’t need a perfect session to get out of Q2, we should be well down the road. It’s a tough car to drive for sure and you always want more time to get used to it. The window in this car is really small and that is known, but that is not an excuse. I have got to get a handle on it. We have had glimpses where it feels good, and I think to drive a Formula One car you need one hundred percent confidence; I am not saying I don’t have it but right now I just seem to be missing the window I need the car in - it is that I need to get on top of. The Team are doing a really good job to support me, it is not something they can do, we are all working together and they will continue to help me with the car but it is something I need to do, I need to drive the car faster. We have an opportunity tomorrow and, a bit like in the Sprint, we will just try to move forward and take learnings to get on top of the tyre graining more. I will just try to do a better job.