Renault Sport F1‘s Sporting Director, Alan Permane, has said he is ‘happy’ with how the team performed in qualifying.
The team’s drivers, Nico Hülkenburg and Carlos Sainz, qualified side-by-side on the grid in seventh and eighth.
Hülkenburg was the quicker of the pair, setting a time of 1:12.560 as his fastest lap. Team-mate Sainz was a tenth behind.
Permane said: “We’re happy to get both cars into the top ten, but it was a shame for Nico that his final lap was so close to gaining another position on the grid, but unfortunately there was not quite enough pace.”
He added: “We don’t expect to see a return of the heavy rain we saw this morning, so our focus will be on maximising the tyre performance life, in particular trying to avoid the pitfalls of blistering.
“It’s likely to be warmer than today, so has potential to be a tough race.”
He said that the team are ‘confident’ they will be able to show their pace in the race.
The team will be looking to make the best of their qualifying positions, and convert them into some solid points by the end of the weekend.
