Fernando Alonso will start in P12 for the F1 Australian GP as Aston Martin went better than expected considering their testing and practice performance, with Lance Stroll one spot behind.
In fact, it could have been even better. The two-time World Champion was P9 in Q1, just over six hundredths off the leading midfield runner Yuki Tsunoda in that session.
On his first run of Q2, Alonso damaged his floor, and it hurt his chances of making the final segment as he explained in the print media zone.
Fernando Alonso satisfied with the pace in F1 Australian GP qualifying
“Yeah, I mean, I’m happy with today’s feeling.
“First qualifying of the year, the first moment that you are in the same moment, with the same conditions to everyone, so there is always a bit of curiosity on where are you. We were in the top 10, we were 7th, 6th, 8th, so I think we are quite fast.
“Then yeah, I made a mistake in Q2, run 1, I went a little bit wide in turn 10, and I think that kerb had damaged the floor a little bit, so in Q2 I was not maybe 100% with the car.
“Even still [it was] P12 with a not perfect car, so maybe Q3 was possible today, to be the first qualifying of the year, I think it’s a good sign.”
How much time did it cost the 43-year-old?
In Q2, Alonso clocked a 1:16.453, almost 0.2s slower than his best run in Q1. The Spanish driver felt another half a second was possible if his car had a normal floor. A 1:15.9 would have put him P8 in the middle segment of qualifying.
While the damage would have been frustrating, the good news for Fernando Alonso is that Aston Martin looked to be right in the heart of the midfield fight in qualifying at the F1 Australian GP.
“I think Q1 is the pace, and Q2 is the damage.
“I think Q1 I did a 1:16.2, maybe there are two or three tenths with the track evolution, so I could be in the 16.0, 15.9 [area], which is P9, with Gasly or something like that.
“So we are not fighting for top five or anything like that, we are at the very back of Q3, but I think we can be in the mix and this is good news.”
A good comeback for Aston Martin after a rough run though practice at the F1 Australian GP
After finishing P8 in FP1, Fernando Alonso fell to P13 in FP2, and P17 in FP3 as Aston Martin fell away. They reverted to a set-up used earlier in the weekend and it worked.
Taking encouragement from their performance, Alonso is fully aware they need to improve as the year goes on.
“Yeah, I mean, I don’t know, I think this morning for sure it was a little bit weird, we experimented a little bit with the set-up, it didn’t work.
“I was P17, we revert to yesterday’s set-up and in qualifying the car was fast.
“So I don’t know, we are close to the top 10, close to Q3.
“I think it’s a good start, we need to build from here.
“Everyone did improve. You see Alpine, you see Bortoletto in Q2, you see the Williams top 6 for Albon. So I mean there is a very competitive field, so we need to improve, we need to raise our level and don’t make any mistakes like I did today, because it could be very costly.”
The question of visibility
F1 has extremely wide and heavy cars these days, along with the tyres. Visibility is virtually impossible, and the track layout at Albert Park makes it even more difficult according to Fernando Alonso.
“I think the biggest question is the visibility tomorrow. If he visibility is ok, I think the race could be fun if it rains.
“But Melbourne is not a straight line, it’s always a kind of corner between 6, 9, so it could be tricky in terms of visibility, so it’s not fun when you drive and you cannot see.
“But we are ready, same conditions for everybody, so hopefully we score points, that’s the target, we start P12, only two positions away from the target, so let’s try.”
Aston Martin struggling in the low speed
Lance Stroll says the biggest weakness for the AMR25 is in the slow speed corners.
“I think the low speed corners, we have to find some pace.”
Although qualifying went better than practice with P12 and P13 for Aston Martin, Lance Stroll is well aware of how far they are behind compared to this race 12 months ago.
“No, it’s not [great] for sure. I mean this time last year we had both cars in Q3 and I think we finished as Grand Prix 6th and 7th, so we’re definitely not where we want to be.
“But compared to the rest of the weekend, I think it was probably our most competitive session, so like I said, not where we want to be, but relative to other sessions, it was a better one.”
