Penalised Alonso wants "chaos" in British GP

Alonso is set for a 30-place grid penalty which means he will start the race from last position.

But with a 40-percent chance of rain forecast for the race, the McLaren driver is not ruling out a good result, as he feels his car has been quite strong this weekend.

Alonso famously topped the first qualifying segment on Saturday thanks to a lap on slick tyres after the track dried out, and he reckons that lap could prove helpful in the race.

"I think we could have made it through with the intermediates but we decided to use slicks to have a reference for tomorrow in case conditions are similar, and we nearly didn't make it," Alonso said.

"But it worked out fine and we have that reference that's useful for tomorrow. If it's changing conditions I think we can be competitive and a bit of chaos would help us."

The Spaniard admitted that, although it was irrelevant for his grid position, seeing McLaren in first place in qualifying for the first time since 2013 was good to see.

"It was a good moment, and for the fans too because there's McLaren fans here who wans to see the team on top as much as we do. Even though it was only Q1, everybody on the stands was very excited and it was nice to see."

Alonso finished qualifying in 13th position after failing to make it to Q3, but said the result was probably better for him since he is starting last anyway.

"Traffic didn't affect me, really. It was also close there to cross the finish line with six or seven seconds left to start the lap, but the lap was good and there were no drivers in front so that's the time we had today.

"In a way we didn't want to make it into Q3 because you start last tomorrow anyway but with used tyres from Q2, but at least we start with new tyres and with the compound we want, so P13 is perfect."

The two-time champion was outqualified by teammate Stoffel Vandoorne for the first time this year, the Belgian set to start eighth.