FP3

• In the final practice session, run in much hotter conditions and therefore not really representative of track conditions expected for qualifying and the race, Charles and Lewis were initially quite happy with the balance of the car.

• However, halfway through the session Lewis pushed at turn 9, the rear end of the car stepped out of line and he crashed into the barriers.

Q1

• The mechanics did a good job of repairing Lewis’ car in time for qualifying.

• Both drivers took to the track on Medium tyres for their first runs, before switching to Softs.

• It was an incredibly tight Q1 with all cars within just a handful of hundredths and Lewis missed the cut by a whisker.

Q2

• Track evolution was strong this evening.

• Using two sets of new Softs Charles set the sixth fastest time and made the cut to Q3.

Q3

• Charles put together some good laps, making the most of his remaining two sets of new Softs to secure a place on the third row of the grid with the fifth fastest time.

Charles Leclerc #16

I’m satisfied with my lap in Q3 and I don’t think there was much more to extract today. I feel that our team has done a really good job in turning things around this weekend. We made some changes on the set-up between FP2 and FP3, and if paid off. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow, to see if the changes we made will also help us to get ahead in the race. We can’t get our hopes up too high, because the cars ahead are very fast. It’s up to us to maximise our result tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to take action at the start and hope to bring home a last podium for our whole team this season.

Lewis Hamilton #44

Clearly it wasn’t the result we were aiming for today. The team did a great job after FP3, in getting the car ready in time for qualifying, but a mistake in the last sector cost us. I know this track well and I’ll be aiming to deliver a more positive result for the team tomorrow.

Fred Vasseur - Team Principal

Overall, we are happy with Charles’ result, as we had a very tough time in both Friday sessions and when it came to deciding on today’s set-up we were quite aggressive and it paid off. For sure, if practice had been better then maybe we could have fought for an even better position, but it is what it is. Now, let’s see what happens tomorrow, let’s see what our race pace is like. It’s been difficult for Lewis, because he did not drive in FP1, having given up his seat to Arthur, and then came the crash halfway through FP3 and in this kind of situation where there are only two tenths separating P4 and P18 if you miss so much running, it’s too much to recover from. You can’t produce a performance based just on FP2. Now let's focus on how to do the best possible for our team to get the best result to end the season well.