Report: More chances ahead despite tough Austin Quali

We will have it all to do if we want to score points in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix after Qualifying has left our two cars on the back two rows of the grid.

The day had started positively, with a P7 and P11 for Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant respectively in the weekend’s sole Practice.

However, after Quali, both drivers explained that the balance of their cars had changed across the sessions.

After our first timed runs in Q1, both drivers had work to do – Alex was sitting in P16 and Logan in P20 after he had a time deleted for track limits at T12.

Both would improve and set a legal lap on their final attempt but in an incredibly tight Qualifying session, it would not be enough to progress – we were out alongside both Aston Martin cars and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg.

“The car was quite different from FP1,” Alex shared after the session, adding: “[I was] feeling a little disconnected which can happen when the wind picks up.

“It meant that to get a clean lap it was very difficult, and my lap just wasn’t that good. The car was better than Q1 today, so it’s a bit frustrating.”

Logan too is keen to get to the bottom of what caused the shift as the day went on, sharing: “Too bad I wasn’t great today, but it was nice to drive on home turf.

“It was a really tricky session. The car felt completely upside down from this morning so it’s strange.

“We’ll have to look into it and see what we can do better tomorrow.”

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance, will be mulling over plenty of data with both the trackside team and those back at Grove.

He concluded our Friday reaction by saying: “We didn’t have enough pace this afternoon and although we were fairly strong in FP1, we weren’t able to make enough progress through the day.

“In fact, the balance of the car changed quite a lot from one session to the next, which is not what we had expected.

“The margins remain fine and with our competitors continuing to bring upgrades, we are falling just short of progressing to Q2.

“With a little less traffic, or a slightly better balance, we could’ve progressed, but we weren’t perfect with everything today, and that cost us.

“As this is a sprint event, there are more opportunities to come during the weekend and although the cars are in Parc Fermé, there are still some improvements we can make.

“We will look to build on the lessons from today and attack tomorrow afresh.”