Azerbaijan GPPositive Surprise from Alonso in Baku: from the Fear of Q1 to Almost Reaching Q3

This Azerbaijan Grand Prix was going to be complicated for Aston Martin, just like Monza and Spa were. Baku is a track with similarities to both circuits, but, as happened two weeks ago at the Italian track, Fernando Alonso has been well above the car's performance.

After some free practice sessions that reflected little optimism, everyone expected an elimination in Q1, even a last-minute pass to Q2. But what we were about to have was a pass to Q3, which was just seven hundredths away from happening.

"We thought Q1 was our limit"

And the strategy of opting for the medium tire, the C5 from Pirelli, was the most accurate, and the one that almost gave Alonso a narrow pass to Q3, which did not happen.

Still, Alonso feels good about this eleventh position, but warns that it is again an unrealistic position: "Yesterday I was really struggling and we thought Q1 was our limit today, so it’s a bit of a positive surprise to be eleventh. It’s unexpected, but fantastic. We almost reached the miracle of Q3 again," added Fernando after the qualifying of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to DAZN microphones.

"It has been a strange qualifying, with so many interruptions, so many red flags, that maybe not everyone has had good laps at the right moment. Maybe we had a success there in taking advantage of the opportunities,” pointed out the two-time world champion, who sets an optimistic goal for the race: “Maintain the positions to be on the edge of points.”

Points Are Not Far Away

One of his main virtues is his hunger for more despite achieving a good result, and the Asturian lamented not being present in Q3: “You’re left with a bit of a bitter taste. In Q2 I could only do one lap, I was out of time with a minute left for the red flag. You always think you can gain half a tenth here or there, but I think it’s the same for everyone and they had very few opportunities

The biggest enemy of this session, which will be present tomorrow, is the wind, something that will condition his race and everyone else's: "There’s a lot of wind and it’s very inconsistent. When there’s constant wind, you expect to have more grip in certain corners, and more difficulties in others, but it keeps changing, so it’s a bit of a lottery every lap and tomorrow we expect it to be the same, so it’s going to be a difficult race," he concluded.

Fuente: DAZNFotos: Aston Martin F1