"My best weekend in years" – Fernando Alonso optimistic about Alpine's chances to hit top-3 in F1 qualifying

Fernando Alonso believes he has the pace for the top-3 in the qualifying session or enough to even claim pole position. The Spaniard was gutted after a mechanical issue aborted his flying lap in the final session of qualifying.

Describing his feelings after the disappointing result, the Alpine driver said:

“It is unbelievable how unlucky we are, because 20 seconds later maybe we were on pole, if the car stops in Turn 1, instead of Turn 11. It has been the best weekend for years, for me, and it is so frustrating not to execute it at the end. It seems quite random and quite random on my car, in the moments when we are fast. These three races are difficult to explain [and] it’s something we need to investigate. Today, top two or top three was guaranteed. It hurts.”

Hailing the Australian weekend as one of his best race weekends in years, Fernando Alonso vented his frustration at not being able to deliver a top-3 result. Describing the mechanical issues in the car, the Spanish driver said it was quite random. According to paddock speculation, it might be a hydraulics issue.

Unsurprised at his good pace in qualifying, the Spaniard spoke in a team review and said:

“We had the pace for the top three or maybe even the front row today and on my Q3 lap I felt very fast. I’m not surprised to be this close to the leaders because we’ve been working hard as a team.”

Optimistic about his team’s efforts over the winter break, the Spanish champion was not surprised by his pace and narrowed the gap to the front-runners. Alpine, however, suffered from similar mechanical issues in the pre season tests and even at the Jeddah race weekend.

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Fernando Alonso believes Alpine deserves a podium soon

The double world champion believes his team has the car and pace to claim a podium finish soon. The Alpine driver revealed scoring points in the Australian GP will be important, but his team will have to figure out its mechanical issues to identify if car part changes might be required that could incur grid penalties. He has already lost one of his engines after his last retirement in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking in the TV pen after the qualifying session, Fernando Alonso said:

“Let’s see what the car is when it comes back to the garage and if we need to change something that requires a penalty, I don’t know yet. Tomorrow, scoring a couple of points is okay, but I think we deserve a podium sooner rather than later.”

The former Ferrari driver ended his podium-less streak after seven years at the Qatar GP last year. The hunger for more wins and more podiums, however, will make him an interesting prospect on the grid if Alpine manages to resolve its technical issues.