Alonso: Aston Martin's F1 qualifying pace a "massive surprise"
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 com Pet itive 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 ext...