Norris: Strong winds exacerbate our problems

      Lando Norris was confidently leading in qualifying for the sprint, but at the crucial moment he made a mistake and ended up only sixth.…

      Lando Norris (6th): "In the final session, I made the mistake of locking the tyres in the last corner. At that moment, the car was running out of speed for some reason. A lot of things didn't work out. Our difficulties, which we have been struggling with, have manifested themselves much more strongly today. The result was a combination of two factors – my mistake and the difficulties of piloting.

      In practice, we had some problems locking the front end and in the last corner with a tailwind. It looked like it was in Bahrain, but the wind is stronger here. Strong winds exacerbate our problems. Both Oscar and I had a lot of them today. I think I have more than him. I overdid it a bit, trying to compensate for the lack of speed. We'll see how it goes tomorrow."

      Oscar Piastri (3rd): "Overall, a positive day. Everything went well in the first and second parts of qualifying, but in the final we didn't manage to get the most out of the car.

      The new asphalt provides much better grip than last year, but the conditions when it is maximum are very narrow. It was difficult to achieve a consistently high pace, but the speed in the car is there, and I am sure that tomorrow I will be able to compete for a better result in the sprint than third place."