Shanghai International Circuit – 56 laps – 5.451km – 19 corners

Sprint starting position: P3
Sprint result: P2
Fastest lap: 1m35.854 (lap 7)

GP starting position: P1
GP result: P1 (Medium -> Hard)
Fastest lap: 1m35.520 (lap 53)

The weekend through OP’s visor

Sprint & GP Quali…

“My first Pole position! I’m very, very happy with that Qualifying. I found a lot of pace in Q3 after genuinely struggling in Q1 and Q2. The car just came alive, I came alive, and I’m pumped to be on Pole. It was a lot of fun out there, the new surface is extremely grippy, but when you lose grip, it bites pretty hard. It was pretty tricky today, but when you hook it up, it’s mega.

Looking back to the Sprint, I was pretty happy with how the car performed – I’d have been happier to finish one place higher, but I couldn’t have asked for much more and we learned a lot to take forward, and hopefully can put that to good use tomorrow.”

The race…

“It’s been an incredible weekend, and the car has been mega the whole time. The tyres behaved very differently to the earlier sessions in China but the race we’ve managed to pull-off this afternoon has been excellent. The support from the grandstands and all the papaya fans has been terrific and we can be proud of the 1-2 result we’ve secured through hard work. I’m looking forward to some time back at the factory in preparation for the upcoming triple-header.”