Alonso: Optimistic heading into the rest of the weekend

On a Formula 1 circuit where the tightest of margins make a big difference, Alonso could not qualify higher than seventh, over half a second off the pace of polesitter Max Verstappen.

He was also outqualified by his teammate Lance Stroll for the second time this season, the Canadian sixth fastest, albeit 0.018s faster.

As was the case with several other driver, Alonso had lap times deleted for violating the track limits, and he feels that put him on the back foot as Qualifying progressed.

"I feel good after that Qualifying session," Alonso said in Aston Martin's press release. "It's always intense qualifying here where the lap times are so close.

"If you look at the timing board throughout the three sessions, there are two or three tenths between a number of cars. We had one lap time deleted in Q2, which forced us to put an extra set of tyres on the car to progress. It then meant we only had one chance on new tyres in Q3, which wasn't ideal," he explained.

"However, sixth and seventh are strong starting positions for us. I think it'll be interesting and exciting with the weather as there is a chance of rain tomorrow and maybe dry conditions on Sunday.

"The car feels good, so I'm optimistic heading into the rest of the weekend," the double F1 World Champion concluded.

Stroll on the other hand was happy with how his Qualifying panned out; he said: "I was happy with how the AMR23 was feeling today and pleased with my final lap.

"I think we got everything we could have out of that Qualifying session. Track limits were tight, and I had a couple of laps deleted as I was trying to really commit to those fast corners, but it was the same for everyone and something we're used to around this circuit.

"It looks like we could be in for some slightly challenging weather conditions for the Sprint events tomorrow, so it's good to have a solid starting position on the board as we look ahead to Sunday's race," Stroll concluded.