What the teams said – Qualifying in the United States

Mercedes

Kimi Antonelli certainly seemed in the mix on Saturday in COTA, but not many expected the Italian to grab pole by nearly two tenths of a second – including his own boss, Toto Wolff admitting afterwards that he thought P3 to P5 was likely. But Antonelli had other ideas, going out early and nailing his first lap in Q3. No one really improved on the second runs thanks to tricky wind conditions, meaning the youngster had grabbed his first pole since Spa and put himself in a great position to challenge for the win.

George Russell could not get close to his team mate, two scrappy runs in Q3 meaning he lines up only sixth. Both Mercedes cars made it through Q1 on the mediums though, so they do have a new set of softs to play with tomorrow.

Kimi Antonelli, 1st, 1:34.035

"I am really happy to take pole position as that was not an easy session. We progressed throughout qualifying, as we have done all weekend, but the ultimate lap time was not easy to come by. We have focused on building up to the limit, getting the car in a good place and then trusting that we can extract the performance when it matters. We have been working really hard with this update to get it into a good window so that is perhaps the most satisfying thing to take from today. I was surprised to take P1; it felt like a good lap though and it's a great result for the team because they've done a tremendous job on this package and we are now seeing results.

"My focus for tomorrow is purely on driving the best race I can. I hope that we can fight for the win, but we will know it won't be easy. Our closest competitors have looked very quick, but we will aim to get a good start then take it from there."

George Russell, 6th, 1:34.476

"We have made some good improvements with the car this weekend and moved it into a good window. The updates have proved really positive and my qualifying session was going well until we got to Q3. Ultimately it was just two bad laps from my side and that is why we ended up P6. Kimi did a great job to take pole and that shows what the car was capable of.

"Tomorrow will be a long race where strategy will play a big role. There are usually incidents here that change how the Grand Prix is playing out so we will be looking for opportunities to move forward. Our pace on Friday was relatively strong so that is encouraging. We will be giving it our all to score some good points."

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

"Taking pole position today was beyond our expectations heading into the session. We've been working hard to get the car into a good window all weekend, and we've been chipping away at it. Ahead of qualifying though I thought we were probably fighting to sneak onto the front row but more likely for P3 or P4. Kimi pulled out an incredible lap in Q3 to take pole position to surprise us all. George wasn't happy with his efforts in the final segment of qualifying, but he still did a solid job in what was a highly competitive session.

"What is clear with our updates is that the car now has a narrower window of operation. If we manage to get everything together then the performance is strong. We are still learning but this is another encouraging sign that we are still moving in the right direction. Tomorrow's race will be a big test, and we know our competitors are strong, but we can hopefully fight for victory and bring home a good points score as a team."

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

"Congratulations to Kimi and the team on a well-deserved pole position. Since introducing our latest updates, we've found it difficult to get the car into a consistent balance window. Our experience this weekend suggests that remains the case, but we've at least shown that the performance is there when we can get everything into the sweet spot.

"We made some reasonably large changes overnight based on the simulator work, and both drivers felt the car was a step in the right direction today. We were still struggling through the final sector though, with almost all our deficit to our competitors coming through the sequence from Turns 12 to 15.

"Kimi managed that section very well on his first run in Q3 and put together an impressive lap to take pole. George couldn't match his Q2 time though. His final lap started with a very strong first sector, but a small mistake at Turn 11 pushed the tyre temperatures up and he didn't have the grip from there to recover. Kimi had a similar drop-off on his final attempt, but fortunately his first lap was good enough to secure P1.

"Tomorrow will be a tough race. Some of our competitors have saved new Soft tyres and, from what we saw on Friday, the top four teams look very closely matched on race pace. Kimi is in the best possible position to fight for the win, whilst with George we should have some strategic options to help him move forward."

Red Bull

Max Verstappen has been in the mix here from word go, and despite a few complaints from the Dutchman in FP3, he always looked set to fight for pole. That is exactly what transpired, but Verstappen ran wide on his final lap and had to settle for P2. Isack Hadjar had a much more topsy turvy day, struggling hugely in FP3 and being called to the stewards to explain a moment where he appeared to push Alex Albon off the track.

But come Qualifying, the late changes he made to his car paid dividends and he pushed his team mate all the way through. In the end he grabbed third place, just 0.036s behind the Dutchman. Like Mercedes, Red Bull managed to save some soft tyres throughout Qualifying to give themselves strategy options for the race.

Max Verstappen, 2nd, 1:34.214

“P2 is a good starting position for tomorrow and overall we’ve been competitive throughout Qualifying. It’s been very close between a lot of cars all weekend and we were looking strong in Q2, but unfortunately in Q3 we couldn’t quite get the balance together. We didn’t have the same level of grip and I struggled to keep the rear of the car under control. The wind also picked up, which made the final sector particularly tricky, and there were a few corners that just didn’t come together, which was a shame. It’s been difficult to manage the tyres and understand when to push and when not to - that will be important tomorrow. Hopefully we can find the right balance between the low and high-speed corners, have good pace in clean air and be in the fight up front. I enjoy this track and we want to win, so that’s what we’ll go for. Congratulations to Alisha on her F1 Academy Championship, she’s been really strong all season so it’s great to see her bring it home today."

Isack Hadjar, 3rd, 1:34.250

“Third is a really great result from Qualifying. We’ve struggled this weekend to find the car I knew we had. Yesterday, and even this morning, things didn’t go our way. We just hadn’t been able to get things to click. To go from that to P3 is a great feeling. I’m really happy with how the Team continued pushing to find the right set-up; we didn’t sit around waiting for things to come to us. The car came alive right from the start of Q1, and I knew we were in a good place. Honestly, I felt Pole was there for the taking, and to be disappointed not to have it is a good sign of where we’re at. Max and I are up at the front, so we’ll try and use that to our advantage tomorrow. We’re in the fight, that’s for sure. A big congratulations to Alisha on winning the F1 Academy title, she's been super strong all year and I hope she enjoys the celebrations."

Laurent Mekies, Team Principal

"A really solid Qualifying from the whole Team, with both Max and Isack in the fight for Pole right up until the final run. Max had really strong laps in Q1 and Q2, but balance just slipped away in the final session, when the wind seemed to pick up and improvements were difficult to find for many drivers on their final laps.

"It was a trickier weekend for Isack up until Qualifying, as he had a few adjustments to make yesterday and again this morning. But with his engineers at the track and support from Milton Keynes, he kept chipping away. In Qualifying, he unlocked strong pace, and P3 matches his best Qualifying performance of the season.

"It will be a challenging race, and I think there are plenty of drivers with a chance of victory, but having Max on the front row and Isack right behind gives us a really good opportunity to be in the right battle tomorrow.

"Congratulations to Alisha on winning the F1 Academy Championship. This is a fantastic achievement and one she thoroughly deserves after an outstanding season.”

Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton topped FP3, meaning Ferrari had swept all three practice sessions. As such, they went into Qualifying as favourites for pole. But once again when it mattered their pace slightly disappeared, with Charles Leclerc managing fourth and Hamilton fifth. There was not much in it from second to sixth on the grid, but neither Scuderia driver could get near to Antonelli’s time.

Nevertheless, as Leclerc pointed out afterwards, the last time he won here, he did so from fourth on the grid. So if their race pace is strong, neither Ferrari car can be discounted from fighting forward tomorrow.

Lewis Hamilton, 5th, 1:34.311

"A big thank you to everyone back at the factory for the work they continue to do. The guys in the garage also did a great job today, and overall we’re in a good place.

"The car felt really good going into qualifying, and Q1 and Q2 were strong. Q3 felt pretty decent as well, but ultimately we weren’t quite close enough, so we’ll look into that and see where we can improve. Tomorrow won’t be easy, but we can still apply some pressure and with a good strategy and strong execution, hopefully put ourselves in a position to fight for the podium."

Charles Leclerc, 4th, 1 :34.267

"The start will be important tomorrow and from fourth we have the chance to work our way forward and fight for a podium, so that’s what we will focus on tonight. Qualifying was tricky in terms of getting the tyres up to temperature, especially in Q3 when the track cooled down, so we will look into that and understand how we can do better if this change in conditions happens again.

"The car feels good and we should be quite strong in the race, we will work together to bring home a good result for the whole team back home and our tifosi."

Fred Vasseur, Team Principal

"We have mixed feelings after this session, because for sure the potential was there and we showed good pace right from the start of the weekend. Up until the final corner of Q3 we were in the fight for pole, but that’s all part of the game. I think Q2 was a bit faster for everybody. We all struggled to improve in Q3, with the track conditions becoming a little more difficult, but it was the same for everyone.

"The front of the field is so close today that, by a couple of hundredths, you can move from P2 to P6, which can be just the difference of one metre at a braking point. Now we will focus on the race, because I think tomorrow could be a different story, and for sure it will be challenging with the high tyre degradation."

McLaren

It was not to be for McLaren, who looked fast in parts but also seemed to have a car that was difficult to handle. Neither Lando Norris nor Oscar Piastri could get the best out of the MCL40 on Saturday, with the World Champion not helped by losing his fastest lap time in Q3 to track limits. So, it didn't work out for them, but they are at least in the top 10 and can try and fight from there, especially if their car proves easier to handle in race trim.

Lando Norris, 8th, 1:35.049

“It was a disappointing end to the Qualifying session this afternoon. The car had the pace to be further up the order, but I didn’t put the lap together. It was challenging to drive today, especially in the corners with the wind making consistency across a complete lap difficult to achieve.

“Starting eighth makes tomorrow difficult, but the race is a long one, and the aim is to recover and make the most of the pace we have by taking the fight to the field. We’ll work hard as a team overnight to see where we can make gains to aim for a strong finish to the weekend.”

Oscar Piastri, 7th, 1:34.803

“That’s P7. We obviously wanted more from today. Overall, it has been a difficult weekend. The car has the potential to be quick, it’s just been hard to drive and we haven’t had the pace. Over the practice sessions and into Qualifying we tried a few different things, but while we weren’t expecting them to be a magic fix, they just haven’t quite done what we’ve wanted them to.

“We’ll keep working because there’s speed in the package—we just haven’t unlocked it yet. The focus now is on understanding how we can push the car further and extract the most out of tomorrow. If we can get ahead at the start, I think we can keep the on-track position, so let’s see what we can do.”

Andrea Stella, Team Principal

“Our performance in Qualifying reflects our current standing compared to our direct rivals: we’re around third or fourth place, with very tight gaps between us. Clearly, our grid positions could have been better had it not been for Lando’s time being deleted due to track limits and the difficulties we faced in completing our two runs in Q3.

“The conditions were very tricky: the wind and the changing track conditions made it difficult to replicate a corner from one lap to the next. Overall, though, I think the result is fair. We are aware that the MCL40 has good potential, but it is very difficult to extract, and this leaves the drivers with little or no margin for error, which – as we saw today – can prove costly.

“Now we need to focus on tomorrow’s race. Tyre degradation and the various possible strategies could create opportunities: for our part, we need to manage the race well, make up positions and put ourselves in a position to fight for the podium. It won’t be easy starting from the fourth row, but we’ll give it our all.”

Racing Bulls

Racing Bulls have been in and around the top 10 all weekend, so it was no real surprise to see both drivers make it to Q3. They left it late to do so, the last to cross the line at the end of Q2. Once into the top 10 shootout, the team opted to run Arvid Lindblad once while Liam Lawson went for an early shower. With the former taking a five-place grid drop, that tactic made sense and means Lindblad starts 14th tomorrow instead of 15th.

Liam Lawson, 10th, No time set in Q3

"It's been a strong weekend so far. Ahead of Qualifying, we decided that I wouldn't run again if we had both cars in Q3. We weren't fighting the front teams, so this strategy meant that I would save tyres for the race and help Arvid move up the grid given his penalty. We don't normally get to go through to Q3 with two sets of tyres left, so naturally I was keen to go again. That being said, we were fighting for P9 anyway, so it made sense for us as a team. We have a strong race car, so I'm looking forward to getting out there again tomorrow."

Arvid Lindblad, 9th, 1 :36.049

"It hasn’t been an easy weekend so far on our side. We started on the back foot, as I’ve been a few tenths off Liam in every session, but when it mattered most, we put everything together and made it through to Q3. I’m really pleased with the work we’ve done, so a big thank you to everyone involved. We kept chipping away and making small improvements in every run, and overall, I’m very happy with my lap. It’s a great track to drive and one that offers plenty of overtaking opportunities, with its heavy and wide braking zones. We’ll start a little further back tomorrow due to the engine penalty, but my focus is on maximising my performance behind the wheel and putting myself in the best possible position to make up some ground in the race."

Tim Goss, Chief Technical Officer

"It was a really successful Qualifying session for VCARB today in Austin, with both Liam and Arvid making Q3. We have brought some significant aerodynamic updates to the car for this event, and once again our pipeline of upgrades and correlation to track has proved it is delivering. The car has taken another step forwards in performance and both drivers have made the most of exploiting this.

“The day started reasonably smoothly in FP3, with a strong performance on the Medium tyre. We then tested some small adjustments to control settings for the final Soft tyre run, which was less than perfect. So we unwound these ahead of Qualifying knowing that the car setup and balance was fundamentally in a good place.

“Both drivers successfully made the cut-off in Q1, with Liam delivering such a good lap, we could afford to save a set of Soft tyres and sit out the second run. The main battleground for us was Q2 which was tight once again. However, both drivers were confident with the car and delivered clean laps to progress to Q3. From here we took a tactical decision not to compete. The bigger prize is the race on Sunday for which we decided we would benefit from saving a new Soft tyre set for each driver, rather than using them in Q3. We completed a steady lap with Arvid on used tyres, just to place him ahead of Liam and limit his grid penalty by one place.

“Race pace and tyre management will be important tomorrow, and we look forward to showing the VCARB 03 and the drivers have the pace to bring home some points."

Alpine

Alpine improved from Friday into Saturday, with Pierre Gasly suddenly looking like top 10 material in final practice. He had a nervous time of it in Qualifying after losing his first lap to track limits in Q1 to leave him as the only driver without a lap time. But he did just about scrape through and then came close to making Q3. But he will gain a place when Lindblad’s penalty is applied and thus starts in the top 10. As for Franco Colapinto, he qualified 14th but drops to the back after his own penalty is applied.

Pierre Gasly, 11th, 1:35.080

“I did not leave much on the table in Q2, so I am not too disappointed with the outcome as that is just where our performance has been this weekend. Of course, missing out by 0.022secs to Q3 is a tough one but I was pleased with my lap in the end and we move up to P10 on the grid due to the penalty for Arvid [Lindblad]. It's been tricky to nail a lap here and it has been a challenging weekend for us overall with the car. We are still in the mix for points tomorrow and that is the aim: to take the fight to Racing Bulls. I need to target them at the start, try to get ahead and then see what we can do from there. There's a lot of work to do tomorrow but I am glad we are in a position to capitalise and I'll be giving it my all to return to the points.”

Franco Colapinto, 14th, 1:35.722

“Going into Qualifying today, we knew we would be slightly up against it with the grid penalty but expected more in terms of where we eventually ended up on the timesheets. When you know a penalty is coming you still try and do your best and minimise the impact with a higher grid slot. The pace just lacked today, and the car is seemingly not as suited here as it is at other tracks, which we need to understand why that was the case. We have worked hard all weekend on race set-up and saved some tyres, so let's hope for a better Sunday, and take the fight to those ahead of us.”

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director

“It has not been an easy weekend so far and we line up for tomorrow's race with one car starting near the back due to a penalty and one car up and amongst it inside the points. It seems this track with the conditions and the bumps has proved difficult for everyone – not just us – and car balance for drivers has been tough to read lap by lap. Sometimes it does not click, sometimes it does, like we saw with Pierre in Q2 for example where his first lap was quite far off, a little puzzling for him and the team, and then his second was well managed and pretty close to the absolute maximum. In the end, he moves up to P10 and his focus is directly on Liam [Lawson] in the Racing Bulls ahead. For Franco, we know it will be a tough ask to climb through the field from the back. That being said, we know Franco tends to make fast starts and his aim will be to capitalise on our promising high fuel pace from Friday Practice and try to work his way towards the points-paying positions.”

Audi

With Gabriel Bortoleto set to start at the back after taking a raft of new power unit components, the Brazilian adding even more to his pool on Saturday, Audi opted to try and utilise the tow at the Circuit of The Americas. It nearly worked too, but Nico Hulkenberg picked up some traffic before getting into the slipstream behind his team mate and thus could not quite do enough to progress. But he gains a place thanks to Lindblad dropping back, and is certainly in the mix for points if he can start well tomorrow.

Nico Hulkenberg, 12th, 1:35.158

"It was another very tight Qualifying session, and unfortunately we just missed out on Q3 by a tenth. My first run in Q2 was pretty good, but we couldn't quite find that extra bit of lap time in the second run. In this midfield, those small margins make all the difference.

"Still, starting from P11 tomorrow, we're in a decent position. It's going to be a long, physical race, especially with how bumpy this track is. The start and opening lap will be important, but I think we can race the cars around us and have a good fight. There's plenty to play for, so let's see what we can make of it."

Gabriel Bortoleto, 13th, 1:35.691

“The car felt really good in Q1, and that helped me putting together a really satisfying lap, apart from the last corner. I knew I needed to give it everything out there, as I would be helping Nico with the tow in Q2, so it was nice to get that lap in. We know we have to start from the back tomorrow, so there was no real reason to push for more in Qualifying.

"Still, I am optimistic for the race. Obviously, it is not easy when you are starting from the back, but overtaking is possible here, and I believe there will be opportunities for us. We need to be ready to take advantage of them whenever they come.”

Allan McNish, Racing Director

“Today’s Qualifying session was obviously not standard. Knowing Gabi would be starting from the back due to his grid penalty, we adjusted our approach to give Nico the best possible opportunity. Gabi played an important role in that and executed the tows very well. Ultimately, we fell just a tenth short of Q3, which shows how fine the margins are in this midfield. Nico qualified P12 and will line up P11 following Lindblad’s penalty, leaving us in a good position to challenge for points with the race pace we’ve shown. Gabi faces a more demanding afternoon, but his determination and ability to respond in difficult circumstances makes me sure that he will work his way forward.”

Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso progressed to Q2 for Aston Martin for the second time in the last three races, in what was good news for the team. Even better news is that when all the grid penalties are applied, he will actually start up in 12th and right in the thick of the action. Lance Stroll did not escape Q1 and cut a frustrated figure afterwards, complaining over the radio about a raft of issues with his car.

Fernando Alonso, 15th, 1:35.818

“The performance of the car seems slightly better for us here in Austin so far and it's our third Q2 of the season. We will start a little higher thanks to some penalties around us, but that does put us out of our natural position. I think we could be defending more than attacking, but anything can happen here and it should be an interesting race.”

Lance Stroll, 18th, 1:36.677

“I felt pretty good in the car yesterday, but we lost a lot of running today in FP3 because of kerb damage, which limited our progress. In Qualifying I had a lot of oversteer and no rear grip. It was the most challenging session of the weekend so far. We’ll look for opportunities tomorrow.”

Haas

Not to be for Haas, who looked strong heading into Qualifying after another solid practice session for Ollie Bearman. Esteban Ocon has not been able to extract the same pace from his VF-26 as his team mate and exited at the first time of asking, but Bearman made it to Q2. He initially qualified 13th but his last flying run was deleted for track limits and thus he dropped down the order.

Oliver Bearman, 16th, 1:36.031

“I felt like I did a good job to get out of Q1, as the car wasn’t feeling quite how I wanted it. In Q2, things came together a bit better, and my final lap was very good, but sadly, it got deleted for track limits. I thought I was on the edge at Turn 11, looks like I was just over. It’s so hard though, as with the camera view that I saw, with the glare of the sun and everything, it seems like you’re playing with millimetres here, and you can’t tell here when you’re close to the line. I have to go for it, especially in Q2, but it’s a shame as I haven’t had track limits all weekend. I’m a bit disappointed in myself, but I know we’ll go again tomorrow.”

Esteban Ocon, 17th, 1:36.531

“I think there are some positives in the fact that we did improve a little bit. The fundamental car characteristics remain the same, unfortunately, and we’re still fighting with inconsistency. We usually see that when we’re fighting these issues, it’s not enough to get out of Q1. It’s been a while since that happened, so it’s a shame that it’s happened here. It was a good lap, it was as fast as the car could go, but tomorrow we need to be opportunistic.”

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal

“I think today’s Qualifying result is pretty disappointing, especially on Ollie’s side, as we were building up quite well throughout the weekend. His track limits violation was marginal, but we accept it, and I think we nearly got the most out of it on Ollie’s side of the garage. On Esteban’s side, I think we got there in the end in terms of car set-up, but if we don’t build up from a good baseline in FP1, then it’s very hard to catch up. Our starting positions are challenging, but tomorrow – going into Turn 1, anything can happen. So, we need to focus on getting the balance of the car right and having clean operations, both on strategy and pit-stops, and see what we can do.”

Williams

Williams have struggled in Austin from word go, and they did not find any answers in terms of set-up for Qualifying. Both drivers were still sliding wide, with Alex Albon especially frustrated after coming out early for his final run in Q1 before the track had fully evolved. But such were Albon's and Carlos Sainz' struggles, it likely made no difference with both drivers exiting at the first time of asking.

Carlos Sainz, 19th, 1:36.770

“It’s been a tough weekend and probably more difficult than we expected, however ahead of Qualifying, we made some setup changes that actually made the car feel better. My last lap was coming together very well, with very strong first and second sectors, but I made a mistake into turn 15 which potentially cost us some positions. In any case, tomorrow’s race will be tough for us as I don’t expect our pace to be enough to fight our way up the order. However, there are more things to learn from the car and I’m looking forward to executing our best race possible and see where that takes us."

Alex Albon, 20th, 1:36.967

“Not the cleanest Saturday. We went out quite early at the end of Q1, so we'll look at the run plan and review the data from today. I'm still searching for rhythm with this car and the tyres. We're throwing everything at it, and trying to maximise the pace that we do have, but we also knew this track would expose our weaknesses. We might try something different tomorrow and see what comes our way."

James Vowles, Team Principal

“This weekend’s been tough since the first laps of FP1. We haven’t had the pace. I think there was more in it today, we didn’t get it all right, but the reality is it’s a few positions and the disappointment is the gap to the top 10 is large. But that news isn’t new to us – we know the challenge in front of us and what we have to accomplish for next year. That doesn’t make it easier on any given weekend but we’ll give our all tomorrow and carry on maximising our learnings for next year's car."

Cadillac

Not to be for Cadillac at their home race, with neither car able to progress out of Q1. Sergio Perez took the intra-team honours for the second race in a row, just pipping Valtteri Bottas by less than a tenth. They don’t start on the back row tomorrow, that honour goes to Colapinto and Bortoleto. But it looks set to be a long afternoon for the home team, who remain without enough pace to fight too much further forward.

Sergio Perez, 21st, 1:37.433

“Unfortunately, I didn’t get the maximum out of the car. I think we were about half a second ahead, but I had an issue with the K (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) and basically got on the throttle a little bit too early because I had traffic in the final corner, and the system just got confused. It’s a little difficult to understand exactly what happened, but I lost two tenths in the final sector that I definitely could have gained. That would have put us a little bit closer to Williams, but it wasn’t enough.

“Tomorrow is going to be tougher. This track is very hard on the right tyres, and it's going to be a challenge to preserve them. So, yeah, it’s going to be an interesting one tomorrow. I’m not expecting anything great, but we’ll give it our best.”

Valtteri Bottas, 22nd, 1:37.523

“I was hoping that we could be closer to Williams, but they have been out of our reach, particularly on one lap pace. It's been an interesting weekend so far as we've been exploring different set-up options because of how bumpy the circuit is. We've explored several directions and in the end, I think we’ve found a good place for the car so that Checo and I can extract the most out of the package we have. We know on paper that the race is going to be a challenge for us, but we’re always ready for any opportunities that come our way and if they do, we’ll be sure to put ourselves into the mix.”

Marcin Budkowski, Team Principal

“As a team we have been looking forward to today’s qualifying at our second home race of the season in Austin. It’s been energising to see so many of our fans during the build up to qualifying today.

“The team executed our plan for Qualifying well but it has exposed our current weaknesses in performance and package. Regardless, both Checo and Valtteri drove well to extract the most from the MAC-26. Some of our competitors have grid penalties for tomorrow and our focus will be on looking at the options available to move forward in the race. It will be hot, bumpy and hard for the tyres, so our aim is to get both cars to the finish in front of a home crowd.”

Pirelli

Dario Marrafuschi, Pirelli Motorsport Director

“The Free Practice session today provided indications consistent with those that emerged yesterday. The C4 confirmed a performance advantage over the C3 in terms of both grip and lap time, a factor that ensures clear differentiation between the available options. In race pace running, however, the two softer compounds proved to be very closely matched, increasing the number of strategic scenarios available to the teams.

"The simulations indicate that a one-stop strategy remains the most effective solution in terms of overall race time. The Soft-Medium combination could be chosen by more than one team in order to maximise the grip advantage offered by the red-banded tyre.

"The Hard nevertheless remains a valid option for the second stint, regardless of whether the race is started on the Soft or the Medium. An early neutralisation could in fact encourage teams to complete the remainder of the Grand Prix on the C2.

"Should degradation prove higher than expected, a two-stop strategy based on a Soft-Medium-Soft sequence could also become an attractive option. The time difference compared with the one-stop strategy remains relatively small, but track position and the potential impact of traffic must also be taken into account. Ultimately, it will be the evolution of track conditions and tomorrow’s temperatures that determine the choices made by the teams.”