According to Bridgestone Ferrari have made progress in improving the operating temperature of their tyres to help boost their single-lap performance for qualifying, something they have been struggling with compared to rival teams lately, especially championship rivals McLaren.

That is the view of F1 tyre supplier Bridgestone’s Hirohide Hamashima, he said: “There has been a very small difference between McLaren, Ferrari and the other teams – so maybe every team improved their car from the last race.

“And now Ferrari can get a very good time on the first lap, I think.”

“Both compounds are working reasonably and the lap time difference was very small because the circuit was very, very dirty,” he explained. “But the wear rate is different.

“The super soft has a higher wear rate than the soft, and the degradation is a bit bigger. But according to our simulation when the circuit is very clean and the rubber is down, in that case we can expect the time difference between the two tyres is about three-tenths.”