Formula 1 Bahrain GP
Alonso: Aston Martin's F1 qualifying pace a "massive surprise"
Fernando Alonso says it was a "massive surprise" to qualify sixth for Formula 1's Bahrain Grand Prix after having doubts about his Aston Martin's one-lap pace.
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Mar 2, 2024, 1:47 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In an extremely tight Q3 field, Alonso's 1m29.542s yielded him sixth on Saturday's grid.
And while he was a tantalisingly close 0.005s off fifth and just half a tenth of Mercedes' George Russell in third, Alonso was buoyed by the result because he had doubts about his AMR24's one-lap speed.
"It was a nice surprise to find ourselves competitive," Alonso grinned. "After winter testing we had some doubts in terms of one lap pace.
"In free practice, it was a different car this weekend, we felt more competitive. But normally we run maybe more engine [power] or less fuel or whatever and we find reality sometimes in qualifying, so we were very cautious into qualifying about our possibilities.
"We found ourselves quite competitive in Q1, in Q2 and then in Q3. Now we are in the mix. Within one tenth we are together with Ferrari, in front of Hamilton, together with the McLarens. So it's a massive surprise and extremely happy."
Meanwhile, team-mate Lance Stroll qualified 12th after missing out on a Q3 slot by less than a tenth.
When Alonso was asked by Motorsport.com where he thought his surprising pace came from, he said his new machine reacted very well to any set-up changes Aston applied to cope with Bahrain's tricky Sakhir circuit.
Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
"I think the car was more connected," the two-time world champion replied. "We had some difficulties last week in winter to really feel the needs of the car. It was quite inconsistent.
"This weekend, all the set-up changes we are trying are doing exactly what we expect from them and this is always a nice thing when you're trying to fine-tune a Formula 1 car to extract the maximum.
"So, the extra level of confidence in the car was the positive thing about this weekend."
Similar to his doubts about Aston's qualifying pace, Alonso also remained cautious about its race performance after some more lacklustre long runs, which projected Aston to be further behind Ferrari and Mercedes over a stint.
"We had some so-so runs in winter testing and yesterday we didn't look particularly good," the Spaniard explained.
"It's going to be an extremely tight race. Racing in a group of cars is never an easy thing to manage in terms of tyres and things like that, so let's see how we deal with those problems.
"It's a very, very good start. A little bit unexpected, but we take it. If we want to compete with Ferrari and Mercedes and these teams, we need to raise the level of development throughout the season.
"Last year we started with a good base car, but we got stuck there for many races. This year, we changed the concept of how to design the car and the upgrades.
"So, to start out strong, it brings me a lot of optimism for the future."
Read Also:
Formula 1Russell: Mercedes made "big step forward" with F1 qualifying pace
Formula 1Leclerc: Ferrari 'lost rhythm' to beat Verstappen to Bahrain F1 pole
Formula 1Verstappen: Red Bull continuous gains key to beating Ferrari to Bahrain F1 pole
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Russell: Mercedes made "big step forward" with F1 qualifying pace
Next article Verstappen: Red Bull continuous gains key to beating Ferrari to Bahrain F1 pole
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
Toto Wolff dismisses Helmut Marko's Russell theory: "He still has what it takes"
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
8 h
Toto Wolff dismisses Helmut Marko's Russell theory: "He still has what it takes"
Winners and losers from F1's United States Grand Prix
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Winners and losers from F1's United States Grand Prix
More from
Aston Martin Racing
Fernando Alonso blasts driving standards of bottom half of F1 grid
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
Fernando Alonso blasts driving standards of bottom half of F1 grid
The unexpected problem Honda encountered despite its second F1 power unit upgrade
Formula 1
Formula 1
United States GP
The unexpected problem Honda encountered despite its second F1 power unit upgrade
Latest news
Hamlin says Chevy teams 'suck at the teat' of Hendrick on superspeedways
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
2 h
Hamlin says Chevy teams 'suck at the teat' of Hendrick on superspeedways
Valtteri Bottas denies he might lose his Cadillac seat for F1 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
3 h
Valtteri Bottas denies he might lose his Cadillac seat for F1 2027
AJ Foyt Racing signs Josh Pierson to multi-year deal beginning with 2027 IndyCar season
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 3 h
AJ Foyt Racing signs Josh Pierson to multi-year deal beginning with 2027 IndyCar season
Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle named co-winners of Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 4 h
Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle named co-winners of Comcast Community Champion of the Year Award
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe