Paul Hembery – motorsport director: “We saw an interesting variety of strategies right from the beginning of Q1, with a mix of teams going out on the hard and the medium tyre. Unusually for Q1, some of the top teams also used the softer compound, in order to save new tyres for the race. But the rain that began to fall at the end of Q2 changed the complexion of qualifying entirely.
“With the track drying quite quickly, it all came down to the closing seconds of Q3, but the surface was still too wet to approach the crossover point for slick tyres – although it was not far off. So it was mostly about who could stay out the longest to benefit from a drying track at the end of Q3.
“Now that the drivers have the possibility to start on whichever compound they choose tomorrow, the possibilities for strategy are wide open. There’s a difference of about 0.8 seconds between the two slick compounds and the data we have seen so far suggests that we should expect about three stops tomorrow, on one of the most aggressive circuits of the year for the tyres. But knowing the conditions here in Malaysia, we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the wet tyres out again at some point.”
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