The weekend of the 2022 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix started in a strange way, with many rookies on track and a mandatory Pirelli tire test for almost all cars.
For the same reason, it was very important to prepare well for qualifying in the third free practice session on Saturday, which Fernando Alonso did, who was sixth, only behind the cars that, in principle, are favorites for victory.
The Spaniard had a complicated appointment ahead of him in Austin, and in addition to not having the latest update of the A522 bottom in his car, he had to add five penalty positions to his final result on the qualifying day for changing the internal combustion engine of its Renault engine.
However, that did not prevent him from being ahead of his partner, Esteban Ocon, who was eliminated at the first change in the cut with which the classification began in the Circuit of the Americas, while he got a ninth place that will become this Sunday a fourteenth due to said penalty.
As soon as he got out of his car, the two-time world champion spoke and gave his feelings about the qualifying session in which the Spaniard believes he could have achieved a better result, although he acknowledged being “satisfied”.
“Well, after Q1 and Q2 I still expected to be seventh or eighth, but after FP3 this morning we saw that we were not very competitive and in fact Estaban [Ocon] was left out of Q1, which is not very normal. for us, so to have reached Q3 and be ninth, yes, satisfied”.
“Although with the engine change, we’re going to start on 14th, so it’s going to be a slightly different race. We’ll try to finish eighth or ninth, that will be the goal for tomorrow.”
Thinking about the race, the Asturian driver was positive, as the Alpine’s long-run pace seems to be more promising than the one-lap pace, something important considering that he will have to come back to reach the points zone.
“We have more race pace than we showed today in qualifying, so let’s see if with the strategy we can come back. And as I said, eighth or ninth, or finishing close to Lando Norris, will be the goal,” concluded the Oviedo.
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