Alex Albon – P17

Started: P19

Fastest lap: 1:25.403

Carlos Sainz – P18

Started: P18

Fastest lap: 1:24.864

James Vowles: “A tough day. We knew coming into this event that it would highlight all our weaknesses, and with the other developments we're working on to put ourselves in a stronger position out of the winter and into Baku, we knew we'd fall behind our competitors. That doesn't make today any easier. It's deeply frustrating to see our cars out there struggling with balance and not quick enough.

"Well done to Alex and Carlos - they've been immensely strong since the difficulties earlier in the season, right through to today, so thanks to them for their commitment to our ongoing journey.

With Carlos, we should have done a better job of warning him about Piastri; we never want to interfere with the leaders, and we need to make sure we avoid that in future. With Alex, just a solid weekend - a real step up from him over his last few races, and it's great to see him able to deliver more and more each weekend.

"On a positive note, the pit stops were good. We did our fastest one of the year, so that's progressing. And we're working on all the elements in the background: communications, aerodynamics, strategy - it's all levelling up. Now the car performance needs to match.”

Alex Albon: "This has been a tough weekend for us - it was a real battle out there. We knew the track wouldn't suit us, and that it would expose our weaknesses. We've had balance issues all weekend, and we were very wind-affected today, with understeer and a lack of consistency throughout. I struggled to find a rhythm with the wind changing and the gusts. We know what we need to fix, and I think the work that's being done back at the factory is the biggest team effort I've seen to fight these issues. I believe we're doing the right things to get back on track - it's just a shame to be in this position in the first place. Hopefully we can take a good rest as a team and come back stronger post summer break."

Carlos Sainz: “I was having a strong race today, racing with the Haas cars which were half a second quicker yesterday. There was an issue all race receiving information about blue flags and, during my battle with Fernando, Oscar appeared in my blind spot and unfortunately we made contact. The subsequent penalty and then double stacking during the VSC meant I lost some positions towards the last laps, but overall there wasn’t much more in it for us.

Reflecting on this first half of the season, I'm happy with the consistency and pace I’m extracting from the car every weekend despite our struggles and, ultimately, we have a lot of homework for the second half of the year. The most important thing is to keep pushing together as a team like we are doing. We will reset during the summer break and come back stronger!"