Sebastian Vettel – 16th: “We had a good day. This is a very interesting track and quite different to a typical street circuit, with the fact there are some run-off areas. It is lots of fun to drive and technically demanding. While it might look a bit like Canada, it’s actually completely different. The corners are tricky and it took some time to find the right line.

“We started the day with poor conditions and very low grip because it was very dusty, but it improved during the day. Now it will be interesting to analyse what we have done and see what the others did. I think we can be well prepared for tomorrow.”

Sebastien Bourdais – 19th: “The track is quite nice and I think they have done a good job with the design at their first attempt. Of course the grip level will come up over the weekend, because by the end of the day, the grip on the racing line was good but as soon as you put a wheel off line it was very difficult.

“The car is not too bad, although I am still struggling a little bit with rear end instability on corner entry and have some traction issues, so we still need to fine tune the balance for tomorrow. Apart from the beginning of the morning, when the tyres wore quickly because of wheelspin and the fact the car was sliding a lot, the tyres seem to be holding up quite well now the track conditions have stabilised.

“Let’s see what happens when we go to the next step tomorrow afternoon and empty the fuel tank.”