The two-time F1 world champion was Max Verstappen’s closest rival during qualifying on Saturday, having led the final wet free practice session, and his final lap in Q3 put him on the front row alongside the driver from Red Bull , who got the pole.
It is the first row of the grid for Fernando Alonso since taking pole at the 2012 German GP , and capped off an impressive performance by the Asturian driver in tricky conditions.
The track was drying out as qualifying progressed, even though it wasn’t dry enough to use slick tyres, and the Alpine driver explained that he didn’t know what lap time to look for as all the drivers were improving by big margins on each turn.
Therefore, Alonso felt he had to take his chances on the slippery tarmac and commit to putting in his best lap without worrying about what his rivals did.
“It was very difficult to run qualifying, because we were going a bit blind as to what the times were and what position we were in,” Alonso admitted.
“We were not informed, because in each lap we improved one or two seconds. I think the constant change in times was too great, so surely, it was going to be an ‘all in’ on the last lap”.
“You were going through every lap and getting a second better, so it was completely unexpected what grip you were going to have in the next corner, so you have to guess and you have to go for it. I wanted to put in a good lap and it was all good.”
Alonso also felt that finding a good set-up in his Alpine A521 and quickly adapting to changing conditions was the key to his qualifying performance.
But as the race is expected to be dry and he will have faster cars behind him, he believes this Sunday will be a different challenge.
“I think it was a combination of things as it wasn’t a normal qualifying, it wasn’t a normal day,” he explained.
“FP1 had a very dirty track and we had to clean the track, FP2 got better and more normal and then FP3 was wet and qualifying was semi-dry so we never had two sessions in a row with the same conditions.”
“You had to adapt very quickly to these new conditions that you were facing, so it seems that we had the right confidence in the car, a good set-up, and I think it is due to the team 50% and then the other 50%. to the pilot.”
“Everything went well this Saturday, but it doesn’t mean anything, because the race is on Sunday and if you make a mistake you get zero points, as no points are awarded on Saturday.”
