Fernando Alonso remains “optimistic” despite a “strange” qualifying that left him P9 on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Aston Martin driver had the home crowd behind him at Barcelona but was left to rue a trip through the gravel early in Q1 as light rain make conditions particularly tricky.
“Q1 probably did compromise everything today,” he admitted.
“I did a mistake, I went on the damp part of the circuit, I guess, in the last corner because I lost the car, and then it was very costly because that gravel completely destroyed the floor.
“It hurts even more because it was the out-lap, I wasn’t even pushing. It was not a push lap, it was the out-lap.
“So, yeah, disappointed with my performance today. Hopefully, I can do a better Sunday.”
With the team frantically trying to optimise and repair his floor as much as possible, Alonso only did one run in Q3.
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But despite the far-from-perfect situation, the Spaniard believes the pace was still there to claim P2 on the grid.
“On the Q3 lap, I was on track for 1m12.7s until Turn 10 when again I ran wide into the damp part on the outside,” the two-time champion explained.
“So when I saw now that 1m12.7s is P2 and P3, I was surprised. That’s why I’m optimistic for tomorrow because the car seems to have a lot of pace.”
Alonso has already gained one place up to P8 on the grid thanks to a penalty for Pierre Gasly for impeding.
And Fernando reflected on a session that saw several surprises throughout.
“It was a strange qualifying,” he suggested, “to see [Charles] Leclerc out of Q1, [Sergio] Perez, [George] Russell out of Q2, we were struggling as well.
Sergio Perez is in the gravel but should have time for another go#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/3UWY4uYgjQ
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 3, 2023
“So, I think it was tricky for everyone but in my case, it was just my mistake, in the out-lap of Q1, that compromises everything.
“But the race is tomorrow, the car still felt competitive even with some damage on the floor.”
An indication of Aston’s true potential was the performance of Lance Stroll in sixth, despite the Canadian being some way off his teammate throughout the weekend.