Alonso was able to take advantage of a trouble-free session in FP3, completing his run programme and conducting important evaluations on the team's new upgrades and set-up configurations. Fernando completed 16 laps and set the 10th-fastest time on his Option tyres before heading into qualifying.
Unsure of what to expect after his problems on Friday, Alonso had a much more positive qualifying session, reporting that the balance following Friday's power unit change felt much improved.
He made it through to Q2 in 12th position and then a spirited final lap allowed him to squeeze into Q3 with P10 – the first time for McLaren-Honda this season.
In Q3, he had only one run in which to post a lap, and in typical Fernando fashion in front of his adoring home crowd he put in a sterling effort to extract the maximum out of the package, qualifying in P7.
“Today is one of those days where everything goes right and everything is meeting and exceeding expectations. I'm definitely happy, surprisingly happy, after how our weekend started yesterday, and our qualifying results so far this season. P7 was not something we were even thinking about,” he said.
“Even if yesterday we didn't do much running, the car performed quite well and the upgrades were working fine. Today we put everything together, I felt confident in the car – in spite of quite windy and tricky conditions – and I need that confidence to push and gain those couple of tenths in quali.”
“All the support I get from the people here in Spain always gives me extra motivation, so the extra tenths today were because of them. I'm so happy for the team because these guys work so hard. Being on the grid tomorrow among the cars that we should always be fighting with to get to the top positions will be a boost for all the guys.”
“But, the race is tomorrow, and that's when the points will be given out. We need to try to maintain this position as much as possible with a good strategy executed well, and a good start of course.”
