Mercedes expects tough battle: 'The race will be interesting'

Mercedes set an excellent qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas setting the first and third fastest times respectively. Andrew Shovlin was happy with the performance of his team.

The Mercedes technical director saw that the weather conditions made it difficult to perform well as a team.

"The hot sunny conditions today made it quite difficult to get the tires to the final sector in good condition," Shovlin explained to Junaid. "It's really easy to overheat here and any little slide costs you with a build-up of temperature."

It even had an effect on the drivers' performance. For example, in the second run of Q3 it was almost impossible to set a faster time. "The track reached a peak. Every slip here costs you with the buildup of your tires. Because of such a moment Bottas also grabbed next to pole."

Challenge for Mercedes

Shovlin expects a tough battle for Mercedes in the race. "But we are looking forward to taken the front row, having both on the clean side of the grid is not too bad. The race will be interesting; we'll see in the first stint if we have the pace to break away but there are a few options for strategy on the table."