With seven drivers penalized and an Alpine that seemed to be competitive, Fernando Alonso faced qualifying for the 2022 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix with the intention of placing himself among the top three, taking advantage of the penalties of the great favorites, Verstappen and Leclerc , who will start from the bottom of the grill.
From the first round of qualifying, the Enstone team’s car showed the potential to place itself above its biggest rivals on Saturday, the Mercedes, something that both he and his partner fulfilled.
Aware that Esteban Ocon was another of the penalized riders, in Alpine they decided to play slipstreams and that benefited both, since the Frenchman got the fifth fastest time and will finally start ahead of Norris, his rival as far as the penalties are concerned. .
The strategy also worked on the other side of the French garage, with Alonso setting the sixth fastest time in Q3, one tenth ahead of Lewis Hamilton and four ahead of George Russell. With this result, the Spaniard will start third tomorrow, only behind Sainz and Pérez, as he gains three positions due to penalties from Verstappen, Leclerc and his teammate Ocon.
As soon as he got out of his car, the Spaniard was delighted with his starting position, as well as with the sensations of an A522 that seems to adapt well to the Belgian Spa-Francorchamps track.
“We’re third for tomorrow, momentary podium position, at least for the first few meters, so I’m very happy with how it went and let’s see if tomorrow we can have a smooth race.”
“The truth is that the car has been going well all weekend and it shouldn’t be bad tomorrow,” he added.
Alonso also expressed his concern about all the cars that will start out of position, especially Verstappen and the two Mercedes , who will try to steal the podium position that he will have, at least, before the traffic lights go out to start the GP race. from Belgium.
“Surely we have strong rivals, with Hamilton and Russell just behind, and especially Verstappen who will get to us very quickly and we are aware of that too, we keep our feet on the ground but trying to score good points”, concluded the Asturian Alpine driver .
