"Key thing for both championships is that we get cars on pole position

In qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race, Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton secured pole position on the day the team installed a new internal combustion engine to car 44. It's Hamilton fifth of the season, and therefore he picks up a five-place grid penalty for the main Grand Prix on Sunday.

For the sprint race, Hamilton will start from pole and try to secure the three points available for the sprint win. Ahead of power circuits in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Mercedes engineer Andrew Shovlin explains the reasons behind the engine change.

"We look at it over the remainder of the year. The key thing for both championships is that we have to get cars on pole position so this puts us in the best position over the remaining races to fight for poles and wins," Shovlin told Sky Sports.

After qualifying, Hamilton praised the Mercedes team for getting his car into the best set-up possible. In sprint weekends, teams and drivers only get one hour on the circuit in practice. The British engineer explains the challenges and the work process in the Mercedes garage.

"For us, we've had a lot of understeer all day. That's kind of positive because we were struggling with the rear-end in Mexico. The sprint race is going to be cooler than the main race so we'll see what we get going into different conditions. So far the rears have been nicely under control, but it's a difficult balance here because the track grips up so much through the hour and you're trying to keep on top of that," Shovlin added.