George Russell will start Saturday's F1 Sprint in Shanghai P5 with team-mate Kimi Antonelli P7. The solitary hour of practice on a Sprint weekend proved busy - a fully resurfaced track adding to the learnings the team wanted to gather, along with the usual planned set-up work, in FP1.

Both George and Kimi completed a healthy amount of long running and got a cursory glance at the Soft compound on the single lap, ending the session in P4 and P9. Getting the tyres in the right window would prove key across both mandated compounds in Sprint Qualifying; the Medium tyres for SQ1 and SQ2, and the Soft for SQ3.

Both George and Kimi employed a preparation lap on the Medium tyre, with their best efforts coming at the end of both segments. They dropped the preparation lap for SQ3, completing one push effort. George, in an incredibly tight end, finishing P5 despite only being a few tenths from pole, with Kimi P7. That sets up an exciting and intriguing F1 Sprint tomorrow, before Qualifying takes places for Sunday's Grand Prix later in the day.

George Russell: It was tricky to extract the maximum from the tyres across Sprint Qualifying; one moment in SQ2 we were outside the top 10 and the next we were second, even though both laps felt similar. That shows how small the gaps were out there today, but I think P5 is probably a fair result. I was pretty happy with my lap in SQ3 and it's not a bad place to start. It's always tough to nail Sprint Qualifying having had so little laps on track in the only hour of practice, so we can be pleased with our efforts.

Let's see what happens tomorrow in both the Sprint and Qualifying. It was a surprise to see the McLarens struggle a little more in SQ3 and we have four different teams in the top five. We've definitely got the chance to move forward in the Sprint and challenge those ahead, so hopefully that is what we can do.

Kimi Antonelli: I was feeling good with the car throughout Sprint Qualifying. My SQ2 lap was particularly strong, and I was hoping to build on that for SQ3. On the Soft compound though, I struggled in the first sector. The tyres were too cold, and I think we didn't quite get the warm-up right on the out lap. The upside is that it was a better Qualifying session than Melbourne and I continue to build my learning.

Let's see what we can do tomorrow now. Starting P7 leaves us with work to do but I've felt comfortable and confident in the car today. My pace on the Medium tyre was particularly good so hopefully that translates into the rest of the weekend across all compounds.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director: We had a decent session this morning in FP1 but going into Sprint Qualifying we were still building our understanding of exactly what to do with the Medium tyre. It seemed to be getting better on the second lap, but others were clearly able to extract the time on the first lap better than ourselves. By the end of SQ2, both drivers had set solid times; the McLarens were looking strong but we looked to be in a tight bunch behind him.

For the final run in SQ3, we chose to go early following McLaren out of the pit lane. George did a reasonable lap but never felt like he had the necessary grip from the Soft tyre to challenge for pole. Kimi lacked grip in the first sector meanwhile and the sliding through the tricky first few cost him around the rest of the lap. The positive is that he is still in the mix from P7 and making it into the third segment of Qualifying continues to build his learning. With the benefit of perfect hindsight we'd have gone at the end as the track looked to improve a little, but it still looks like the others are getting a bit more out of the new softs. We've got a bit of time to try and understand that ahead of main qualifying tomorrow.

Tomorrow's Sprint promises to be an intriguing session. Whilst we start P5 and P7, we were pleased with our long run on the Medium compound in FP1, and the competitive order is hard to predict. We will do our best to bring home a solid haul of points before focusing our efforts on Qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix later in the day.

Check out our Friday gallery from Shanghai here.