Largely aided by problems from Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and Lewis Hamilton, the A522s of Ocon and Alonso finished fifth and sixth in qualifying, separated by just 0.060s.
The Asturian was ahead of the Frenchman on Friday and was also quicker in FP3 in the wet. And he was also noticeably faster than the Frenchman in both Q1 and Q2, the round in which he came third.
However, the 41-year-old was disappointed after losing to his team-mate in Q3, with both also falling behind McLaren ‘s Lando Norris, Alpine’s closest rival in the constructors’ championship.
“Unfortunately it has been like that,” Alonso said after being asked by Motorsport.com about the difference with his team-mate.
“I’ve been quite a bit quicker all weekend. My car has worked really well this weekend, even in wet conditions and stuff, but now in qualifying, well Q3, they’ve done a better job. “.
“A couple of milliseconds we’ve also lost to Lando. I’ve felt faster than Lando all weekend, so we’ll see tomorrow if we can gain several positions.”
“It was a good lap. A bit tricky in the second corner, but the others did a better job. And those couple of milliseconds, I think we know where they are in our car. So we will try to have them for the next race,” said the Spaniard.
In response to a question about whether it had been difficult to go from wet FP3 to dry qualifying, the Spaniard said: “It was more difficult for others.”
Alonso acknowledged that the team’s goal has to be to beat McLaren this Sunday, and above all Norris .
“Yes, as I said before, I think I was faster than him. But they are fast, also Daniel Ricciardo was quite competitive yesterday in short and long, so it’s going to be a tight fight tomorrow, but not only tomorrow, but the rest of the season.
“But yes, both teams started in the top nine. So we have to maximize the result. It’s very difficult to overtake here, so we have to try to consolidate the positions at the start, and then try to defend ourselves.”
“Like I said, it’s hard to overtake, and I’m starting from the wrong side of the grid. So yeah, it’s a bit disappointing now, but we’re in the top six. You should never be disappointed with a top six.
“Also some cars behind us are faster than us, like Verstappen , Perez or Lewis for example. So it’s going to be an interesting race, because there are several cars out of position.”
Alonso admitted that he did not expect George Russell and Mercedes to take pole position in Hungary.
“I’m surprised and also happy for him. It was unexpected, if I’m honest, because Ferrari seemed very strong and Max too.”
“Mercedes was struggling a bit, we even thought we were ahead of them. In fact, we are ahead of Lewis. So to see him on pole, he has to have done a great lap.”
