After a busy fortnight on the road, beginning in Australia, followed by our first Sprint weekend of the year in China, we depart the Shanghai International Circuit to reflect on an intense three days of on-track action.

Despite heading home without any points, the team will now regroup back at Enstone before heading out to Suzuka in Japan next week.

After just one practice session on Friday morning in China, it was straight into Sprint Qualifying to set the grid for the 19-lap race. Credit to the team on Jack’s side of the garage, who were able to resolve a technical problem that caused the number seven car to stop at the side of the track in FP1. Prior to Qualifying, the team made positive steps forward with both the balance and set-up of the car. Unfortunately, the true performance of the A525 wasn’t fairly reflected by elimination in SQ1 as both Jack and Pierre ran into traffic on their final laps.

Another warm, sunny day on Saturday morning in Shanghai put an emphasis on tyre wear, and the graining we expected to see on the medium compound tyre came to fruition in the Sprint race. Starting 17th on the grid, Pierre made a great start, gaining three positions on the opening lap.

After losing a place to Isack Hadjar on lap nine, Pierre was back past on the following lap - and ahead of Carlos Sainz too - to run 13th on lap 11. Able to conserve his tyres, particularly the front left, Pierre made up another position three laps from the end, passing Oliver Bearman to take 12th at the flag.

“It was an exciting Sprint race, even if we started too far back to really be in contention for the points,” said Pierre. “We gained five positions, made some nice moves, and importantly learned some lessons on the tyres.” Behind him, Jack was unfortunately on the receiving end of Liam Lawson’s bold move into the Turn 14 hairpin. Then, on the last lap, he made contact with the Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto and was handed a ten-second time penalty.

With the field so closely matched - with 15 cars separated by less than a second - Qualifying on Saturday afternoon resulted in another Q1 elimination. However, come lights out for the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, Pierre made another excellent start, once again gaining three places on the opening lap. The Frenchman was then one of the first to stop for the hard compound tyres, coming into the pits at the end of lap 10. That dropped Pierre down to 18th, but he then started to make progress through the field.

By lap 37, the number ten car was running in the points and the cooler conditions meant the tyre wear wasn’t as significant as the previous day. However, he couldn’t hold off the Haas of Bearman, who was lapping on fresher mediums. Pierre finished in 11th, but sadly was disqualified after the race for a technical infringement.

Jack pitted one lap later than Pierre and also ran to the end, putting in a resolute defence of his 14th position from the two-stopping Hadjar. The hard-fought battle went on for 20 laps, but the stewards issued Jack another ten-second penalty after he locked up and accidentally ran Hadjar off track at the hairpin.

“Jack had comparable pace to those around him and put up some good fights,” said Team Principal Oliver Oakes. “Ultimately, we lacked a little here and we need to understand why we weren’t as competitive at this track and see where we can improve for future races.”