Saturday at Suzuka ended with a positive Qualifying performance from the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team, with Oscar set to line up P3 and Lando P5 for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix.

Following the hydraulic issues that resulted in lost track time for Lando yesterday, the team encountered a further setback today. A problem with Lando’s ERS pack within the Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains power unit was identified prior to the session and needed to be replaced.

The issue was detected during pre-FP3 preparation, and we would usually anticipate a significant amount of time to complete the work. While initial assessments suggested the entirety of FP3 would be lost, extremely hard work by the team ensured that the car was able to return to the track, allowing for a partial recovery of the scheduled programme.

Going into Qualifying with four new sets of Soft tyres, the goal was to get through the first two sessions using only two of those sets, leaving the drivers with two attempts in Q3. This was executed well, with both drivers able to set times good enough for progress with their first attempts in both Q1 and Q2, before doing valuable learning with a second attempt on used tyres.

Oscar and Lando’s laps in Q3 were also well-executed with them lying third and fourth after the first runs. The track seemed to lose a little pace for the second attempts, with both drivers, together with the Mercedes pair and Lewis Hamilton, unable to improve on their Q3-R1 times. Charles Leclerc, however, did improve, splitting Oscar and Lando for tomorrow’s grid positions.

We have been able to unlock more potential from the power unit this weekend. This combined with better setup work on the MCL40 meant that the team finished Qualifying pleased with the progressive gains made to secure P3 and P5.

There remains a great deal of work to do overnight to consolidate these gains, but this represents an important step forward in competitiveness. However, without upgrades being brought to the car, Ferrari will remain hard to beat, a challenge we will look to face in tomorrow’s race. We head into tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix as the only team with two new Hards, which may represent an opportunity in the event of a Safety Car, in what is otherwise expected to be a one-stop race.

Oscar Piastri: "A good Qualifying session today, it was nice to be in the top three and closer to the leading team, so overall we can be pretty happy with this afternoon’s result. All weekend, I think we’ve looked reasonably good, and the team has executed every session well, getting things right for the moment across each day, which is pleasing.

"We clearly don’t have the pace or the grip to match Mercedes still, but we’re getting closer and that’s the most important point in our on-track performance. There are plenty of positives today, and it was good to be able to qualify ahead of Ferrari too. We’ll now continue to work hard to make important further gains as a team overnight, working on power management and exploiting maximum performance in preparation for the race tomorrow."

Lando Norris: "I have to be happy with P5. Considering the number of issues we've had throughout the weekend and the laps we've missed. It’s a good result and a credit to the team for the underlying pace in the car, and for their hard work in fixing the various issues we’ve had.

"It’s been a difficult weekend, constantly playing catch up and never really getting into a comfortable rhythm. We’ve definitely taken a step forward and seem closer to our competitors here, which is a positive sign, but the lack of running has certainly hurt my preparation.

"Heading into the race, I'm on the back foot. With no high-fuel running, it’s tricky to know how the car is going to behave or how to manage the tyres and battery over a race distance. I'm not as confident as I'd like to be, but the car is quick, and Oscar did a great job to get P3, so it shows what's possible. I'll do my homework tonight to learn as much as I can, but a lot of it will be learning on the go. It’s not ideal, but we're in a good position to fight."

Andrea Stella: "Today was a positive step for us, with clear indications of progress in competitiveness. Oscar has been fast all season and showed it again, and Lando delivered strongly despite issues in every Practice session.

"Our improved collaboration with the Mercedes HPP engineers is helping us unlock more from this power unit, and combined with better setup work on the MCL40, we’ve been able to cash in some lap time. A Qualifying result of P3 and P5 today reflects where we realistically are right now, fighting with Ferrari, while recognising that Mercedes remains a step ahead on pure pace. We know Ferrari tend to gain relative pace in the race, so podium contention will be hard fought, but we’ll be there to take opportunities.

"We’re not blind to the areas we must improve. Reliability, particularly the recurring issues on the battery module supplied by Mercedes HPP – today's one that forced us to fit a third energy store unit in Free Practice 3 - is something we’re working to stabilise as we assess whether the second battery can be recovered.

"I’d like to recognise the hard work by the team in getting the car back on track for FP3, at one point it didn’t look like that would be possible. Above all, we need to bring upgrades, which is the plan for the next race, so we can fight more steadily for podiums and, later in the season, for wins."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Suzuka here.