Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will start the sprint race from the pit lane after they made some adjustments to their Aston Martin cars. The two drivers struggled with pace during Friday’s sprint qualifying, finishing 16th and 19th. In response to these disappointing results and in an effort to optimize their car setups for the weekend, Aston Martin made significant changes, requiring both cars to start from the pit lane.

According to an FIA document, both Alonso’s and Stroll’s cars underwent overnight modifications, including alterations to the bodywork and suspension setups. Additionally, Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who qualified last, also had his suspension setup changed and will line up behind the two Aston Martins at pit exit. After qualifying, Alonso indicated that he would use the 24-lap sprint as a practice session, describing the race as useless given his poor starting position. "The sprint for us really means nothing, as there are only eight cars scoring points," said Alonso. "Even if you finish seventh or eighth, you only get one or two points. So the format doesn't reward being fast on Friday night and Saturday.

"Our focus is much more on Sunday, so that’s how we approach sprint weekends. It's a bit pointless until Saturday afternoon, and that's true for this one as well." Alonso further explained that the experimental setup changes made after Friday’s single practice session had contributed to the team’s lackluster performance. "We didn’t have the pace in qualifying," he admitted. "We made some changes after FP1 that we knew might hurt the car’s speed, but we had to prioritize our Sunday performance over Saturday. So for us, the sprint is more like an extra practice session."