Positive Saturday Qualifying Sets Up Exciting Race

Agonisingly for George, he finished with the exact same time as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the end of Q3, but Verstappen recorded the run earlier than George to claim P3.

This morning’s FP3 session was about single lap work to prepare the afternoon’s Qualifying with yesterday’s programmes focusing on collating long run data.

We were able to take five sets of Soft tyres into Qualifying, with single lap push runs being key.

George was able to smoothly make his way into Q3, with Kimi edging his way through, learning all the time.

George was provisionally P2 behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri after the first runs in Q3, with Kimi in P7. An identical lap time to Verstappen brought George’s session to a close with Kimi finding good gains to move up into P6.

George Russell

It feels good to be back near the front of the grid today and it is nice to be in this groove again after a tough Monaco Grand Prix. The car felt good today and being with the same lap time as Max (Verstappen) is not surprising. Except for Monaco, we’ve been in the top five every single race since the start of the season, and we know we have the pace to challenge our competitors on a Saturday.

We do know it is still going to be a challenging race with these hot ambient temperatures and a track temperature forecast to be in the low 50°C degrees. Just like Bahrain though, we’ve been able to manage the tyres better when they’re on the hardest end of the Pirelli spectrum. Hopefully that will be the same case tomorrow.

The McLarens are still the dominant force this weekend and it will be a challenge to fight with them. However, a podium is what we are realistically aiming for, and I do think this is achievable tomorrow. I started P4 in this same race last year and ended up in the lead after turn one; I’ll certainly try to replicate that tomorrow!

Kimi Antonelli

After two difficult race weekends, it is good to be back in a good rhythm. It took me some time to build up my speed at the start of the session, but I started to gain a lot of confidence lap after lap.

Unfortunately, with only one set of new Soft tyres for Q3, I was slightly limited. I wasn’t able to take quite as much risk, and I know there was a couple of tenths to grab here and there, but overall, P6 is a great come back from where I had been earlier in the weekend.

It is going to be a difficult race tomorrow with these hot temperatures. Preserving the tyres will be a real challenge for the whole field. That is why we deliberately have focused on our long run pace this weekend as we know it is an area we need to improve in. Tomorrow will be a good test of the progress we have made, and I am hopeful that we can put in a competitive showing.

Toto Wolff, CEO & Team Principal

We were back to being at the competitive end of the grid today which was encouraging. Obviously, it is a bit painful to see George starting P4 when he could have been P3 having set the same lap time as Max (Verstappen). We know that race pace is what matters around here, rather than your specific starting position, so we are looking ahead to tomorrow now. If the temperatures stay as they were today, it is going to be a difficult afternoon for everyone tomorrow. Preserving the tyres will be a struggle, as we have seen in previous hot races not only this year but around this circuit before.

That is why we decided before the weekend to focus on improving our long run pace, given it is the main area of improvement we need to make with this car. Starting with both cars in the top six gives us the chance for a solid result. We will need to show that we have made progress with our race pace though to stand a chance of converting that promise into genuine performance. Let's see how the opening lap goes and from there, our main objective will be to preserve the tyres lap after lap and still ensure we can post competitive lap times.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We could have done a little better than P4 and P6 today, which is frustrating. George matched Max’s (Verstappen) lap time to the thousandth and wasn't far behind Lando (Norris), but the smallest of differences still count. Kimi had to use more sets of the Soft tyre than was ideal on his way to Q3. That left him with just one new tyre set, and it was hard to judge the grip step on a cooling track. He felt he left a bit of lap time on the table but it was still a good effort to split the Ferraris.

The race is going to be tough on the tyres tomorrow. It’s really hot here in Barcelona and that's going to make it hard to keep temperatures under control. We have done plenty of high fuel work in free practice though, so hopefully both drivers will be as well prepared as possible. It is an area we need to improve in, so tomorrow’s race will offer a good test of the progress we’ve hopefully made.

FP3 Result

Qualifying Result