As revealed by Autosport, a loophole has emerged in the new sprint format rules regarding the use of tires in the shootout.

Drivers must use a new set of medium tires in SQ1, another new set of medium tires in SQ2, and a new set of soft tires in SQ3.

The intention is that all teams must save the three new sets of equipment for use on Saturday.

However, the published rules leave a loophole that means teams don’t actually have to save on tires if they prefer to use them earlier in the weekend.

A related article reads: “During the SQ3 sprint, no more than one set of dry tyres, and only a new set of soft tyres, can be used.”

The presence of the word “could” leaves open the door for teams that might not have thought to let SQ3 run out of that set of soft tires strategically earlier in the weekend, which is exactly what Norris and Kakuda did on Friday.

The McLaren driver improved in qualifying, finishing seventh in Q1 and sixth in Q2. The team then used his last set of new pads in the final race of the third period, playing the “joker” role and helping him to seventh in qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

That is to say, according to the rules, if he runs to SQ3 on Saturday after the mandatory middle tire run of the first two quarters, he cannot participate. Instead, he’ll have to sit in the garage and settle for 10th.

However, the exhaustion-soft strategy clearly helped him in Friday’s third quarter, and he could reap the rewards in Sunday’s main event.

“This was a conscious strategic decision to maximize results in Grand Prix qualifying,” a team spokesman told Autosport.

“There are more points to score on Sunday, so it’s the more important game.”

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT04

Photography: Mark Sutton/ motorsport pictures

Tsunoda was in exactly the same situation as Norris, as he also ran all the soft tyres, but his route was slightly different.

Both AlphaTauri drivers ran an extra set of soft tires in FP1. The general idea was to be better prepared for qualifying later on, although Tsunoda lost his first set when he brushed a wall and blew a tire.

The strategy didn’t work for Nyck De Vries, who crashed on the first lap of Q1.

However, Kakuta used his extra preparation to make good progress, finishing 10th in the first session, 7th in Q2 and then 8th in Q3, which will be his grand prix on Sunday starting position.

In the process, he used up all the softs, which meant he ran out of fresh tires for Saturday’s qualifying sprint.

“While we’ve brought in several new aero components, based on recent racing, we’re not expected to be competitive in Q3 material,” said Jonathan Eddolls, AlphaTauri’s chief race engineer.

“So we put a lot of effort into our qualifying preparations in FP1 to give us the best chance to start the race as high as possible on Sunday with more points. Both drivers are in FP1 Two sets of soft and medium tires were used.

“The headwinds of our FP1 qualifying preparations meant we didn’t have new tires for Q3, but Yuki put in an excellent lap on the old tires in Sunday’s race to finish eighth.”

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT04

Photography: Zak Mauger / motorsport pictures

Tsunoda stresses that tires are a key factor in his performance.

“It was really tricky, a tricky track and especially the tires were tricky,” he said. “Most drivers struggled with the brakes, especially the first section where the front tire wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t ready.

“We warm up the tires as much as we can, but we try a lot. So the tires are really key, warming up.”