We travel straight to Shanghai for the second round of the 2025 Formula One World Championship, where Sprint action takes place for the first time this season. Get the thoughts of Lance, Fernando and our team after Saturday.
Saturday in Shanghai saw both Lance and Fernando finish inside the top ten in the Sprint, while a competitive Qualifying session means we will line up in P13 and P14 in tomorrow's Grand Prix.
Saturday Round-up and Reaction
Lance began the Sprint in P10 and Fernando in P11, both on the Medium tyre.
Both made overtakes on the opening lap, with Lance up to P8 and Fernando P10. Lance continued in the final points position for the majority of the Sprint, until he was overtaken by Lando Norris on the penultimate lap.
Our drivers finished the Sprint in P9 and P10, with Lance just missing out on a valuable point.
Later in the day, in Qualifying for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix, both drivers progressed into Q2.
In what was a tight Q2, Fernando and Lance's final flying laps were unable to get them out of the drop zone, ultimately qualifying in P13 and P14 respectively.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Sprint & Qualifying
"Today was a good effort to reach Q2 and we are more or less where we expected to be. I had some space to get some clean runs in, and I used some learnings from the Sprint earlier today. The tyres definitely made it tricky, but everyone is dealing with the same challenges.
"We'll keep pushing to get everything out of the car tomorrow."
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Sprint & Qualifying
"It wasn't the best Qualifying for us today and we missed out on the top ten by one tenth. We had some difficulty with the out-lap traffic, but it was the same for everyone. We ended up making a few set-up changes to the car between the Sprint and Qualifying to try help us with improving tyre degradation for the race.
"We couldn't see any advantage today, but let's see if these changes have helped. I'm still hopeful for some opportunities tomorrow and we will try to score some points."
Mike Krack | Chief Trackside Officer
"A strong Sprint this morning for both drivers – with Lance just missing out on a point after a great battle with Lando [Norris]. I think our qualification result this afternoon is just a reflection of our car pace right now. We made some set-up changes to both cars after the Sprint and both Lance and Fernando had pretty clean sessions.
"We saw in the Sprint this morning just how tough this track is on tyres so managing tyre degradation will be a major challenge tomorrow too. We will continue doing our homework tonight to see where we can improve for the race with the aim of progressing into the points."
Next up
It's lights out for the Chinese Grand Prix at 07:00 GMT.
Friday
Lance and Fernando used the sole practice session to collect data predominantly on the Medium tyre, as well as the Soft compound.
A brief red flag paused running towards the end of FP1 ahead of both drivers completing their performance runs on the Soft tyre.
During Sprint Qualifying, the track continued to improve and both Lance and Fernando progressed into SQ2.
The team waited until late in SQ2 to send both drivers out, where their flying laps put them in the top 10.
As others around them continued to improve their lap times, Fernando was knocked out in P11, just shy of making it into SQ3.
Lance progressed into the final stage of Sprint Qualifying and after switching to the Soft compound tyre he finished the session in P10.
#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice & Sprint Qualifying
"Sprint Qualifying was a strong session for us today, and I'm happy to have made it to SQ3. We decided to run used softs throughout SQ3 to save tyres for Qualifying tomorrow, so it's still hard to gauge how we compare to those around us, especially with how tight the midfield is.
"We will continue to look at how we can improve for the rest of the weekend."
#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice & Sprint Qualifying
"I am quite happy with Sprint Qualifying today as the car felt quite competitive. SQ1 went very well for me and in our first push lap we managed to finish second. I just missed out on the top 10 in the end, but it's good that we got one car into SQ3.
"It's clearly very close in the midfield and let's see what we can do in the Sprint. Our main focus is still very much on Qualifying and the main race, but tomorrow's Sprint gives us another opportunity to try score some points."
Next up
The first Sprint of the 2025 season begins at 03:00 GMT before we set the grid for the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix at 07:00 GMT.
Sprinting in ShanghaiSprinting in Shanghai
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