Fernando Alonso was delighted to finish second in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix. After struggling in FP3 and Q1 the Spaniard slowly picked up the pace to set a lightning-quick banker lap on used softs. This ultimately proved to be enough for a front-row spot after Charles Leclerc crashed his car in turn 7.
“It was a good qualifying, I think FP3 was a little bit messy for us. We tried different set-ups and they didn’t work, but the team obviously put the car in a more known place after the first four races and the car came alive in qualifying.
“So yeah, extremely happy with P2. Obviously, first row of the grid, let’s see what we can do.”
Asked by Danica Patrick how the balance of the car was, he simply responded with “perfect”.
He continued: “I did enjoy every lap, it was so enjoyable to drive. Especially the low-speed corners here are quite tricky.
“You go quite close to the walls between Turn 11 and 16, so you need to have that confidence in the car to really attack qualifying. And I had the confidence today, so I was very pleased.”
Where Verstappen and Leclerc fell victim to the tricky conditions, Alonso was able to keep his car on the grippy part, acknowledging that it is no easy feat to drive a good lap on this track.
“It was difficult the whole weekend. It is a very narrow racing line that we are cleaning, and it gets quite grippy, but offline it gets quite slippery. And, yeah, we need to have an eye on the weather as well. Some forecasts tell it’s rain tomorrow, if that comes obviously it’s gonna be a new thing.”
And of course the two-time world champion had some nice words for his new team, claiming that his personal approach hasn’t changed, but that Aston Martin provides him with the environment to flourish.
“I think I have been always motivated. I’ve been always working hard, but I didn’t have the team believing in my performance, in my ability to set up the car as well and to move forward. And also I never had as fast a car as I have now. I didn’t change anything but Aston Martin changed everything on me.”
