“Verstappen will also be able to get ahead of us”: Fernando Alonso plays down victory chances at Saudi Arabian F1 GP

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso has said that despite starting P15, there is a possibility that Red Bull's double world champion Max Verstappen could finish ahead of him in Sunday's Saudi Arabian GP.

The Dutch driver looked serene throughout the weekend but a drive shaft issue during Q2 left him in the garage and ended his qualifying session. However, Verstappen won from P14 last season at Spa, which Alonso was quick to point out.

Speaking to the media, including Formula Passion, after qualifying, Alonso said:

"I don't think I can fight for the win because the Red Bull is quicker, and I'd say that Verstappen could also finish ahead of us in theory, even if he starts from 15th position. We will see what can be done."

"Verstappen was the favorite again today, but we saw that a mechanical problem can change everything: so, even if we're perhaps not battling Red Bull in terms of race pace, if reliability isn't the best for them, we can take advantage of it."

---

"It has been a very good weekend for us" - Fernando Alonso

While analyzing his weekend thus far, Fernando Alonso said that he was happy with his qualifying lap despite the one-lap pace being the weak point of the car.

Speaking to F1.com, he said:

"Yeah, for sure. I mean, it has been a very good weekend for us. Qualifying was our weakness or a weak point in Bahrain but today the car seemed to perform very well on one lap. And yeah, let's see tomorrow what we can do from here. Obviously, Charles has a penalty, so we'll start on the first row the grid, so this is just amazing."

"Yeah, we are confident. I think that the gap or let's say the long run yesterday was affected a little bit by traffic but the car felt very strong. Still, I think the strongest part of the car is the long-run pace and how we treat the tires, so I’m looking forward to it. But, yeah, all in all, I think we have to be very happy. We start on the first row of the grid, on the second race, very different circuit compared to Bahrain. So yeah, I think it has been a very positive weekend for the team.

It would be fascinating to see if Fernando Alonso, who will start in P2, could challenge Red Bull's Sergio Perez for the win on Sunday.