Alonso: Q3 is step in the right direction

Editor

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso finally obtained his team’s first Q3 spot since 2014 after placing in P10 during qualifiers ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Alonso was full of delight for breaking McLaren’s Q3 bogey, while his teammate Jenson Button placed in P12.

In front of his home fans, the Spaniard also thought it was encouraging that they suffered no problems during qualifying and the practice sessions and is hopeful that the Grand Prix tomorrow will be as smooth as the weekend panned out.

“It is the first qualifying in a long time I haven’t watched on TV, so it is nice to be part of the show,” the two-time World Champion said.

“We keep progressing as a team and now first time in Q3 with no big incidents happening is good news for us. Let’s enjoy it a bit now, but now we need to think about tomorrow.

“We don’t have free choice of tyres, which is a bit of a handicap that we need to recover somewhere. We should think about moving forward but typically in Barcelona it is about the start and the pit-stops.

“It is a step, it is a barrier you need to go through one day and today was the day. It should be a normal thing to be in Q3 and then the points on Saturday, it is the normality we are trying to find and it seems to be coming close.”