The Spaniard admitted the drying qualifying session had been stressful and joked that his risk-taking hadn’t been good for his heart.
Crucially, Alonso lines up ahead of Lando Norris’ McLaren, giving Alpine an edge in the ongoing battle for fourth in the World Championship.
The race marks Alonso’s 350th start, making him the first driver in F1 history to reach the landmark.
“I think if it’s dry it’s going to be difficult to overtake,” he said. “So it will be good to secure the top five and score more points than McLaren, who will again be the main focus. If it’s wet obviously there’s a lot of things that could happen.
“It could be a really good race for us, or a really bad one, if you crash or whatever it could be a DNF. It is therefore a lot of risk if it rains tomorrow, but we are two positions from the podium. So why not dream big tonight?”
Alonso had shown good form throughout qualifying, finishing fifth on the intermediates in Q2 as the track dried out, before repeating that on the slicks in the final session.
“It was stressful, no doubt, even borderline fun I think because the level of risk and stress was quite high,” he said when asked by Autosport about a hectic session.
“When we put the dry tires on in Q3, it was a brave decision on everyone’s part, because it was just a guess.
“In the end it was the right decision, but going every lap faster and faster than the previous lap, entering the corner just hoping the car stays on track, and the track will be drier than there was. at a minute and a half when you came through that corner, it’s just a lot of stress. So hopefully tomorrow a race a bit calmer.”
Fernando Alonso, Alpine F1 Team
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
When asked if he liked the risk, he said: “No, because I’m not fighting for the world championship, so it can’t be good for my heart to take that level of risk to really not much reward! I still do it, even though I’m P20, I’ll take the same level of risk. But today was a bit above all the other qualifiers of the year.”
The performance was achieved with Alpine’s new floor, but while Alonso agreed it worked as expected, he played down his actual lap time contribution.
“It was a step forward with the data we collected yesterday. I’m so happy with the stage. I think we have to wait for Suzuka to feel the package a bit more because here in Singapore every race , there is an evolution of the track, you can’t read the data much, and also in terms of the sensations coming from Monza and going to Singapore, it is very difficult to judge the car.
“I think we’re certainly more competitive with the upgrade, but maybe when we update the car we’ll update to tenths of a second. We’re seven tenths behind Norris, and five tenths of [Carlos] Sainz, so I can race with Bahrain’s car and still be in the same position, probably.”
Alonso, who won the race in 2008 and 2010, acknowledged that Singapore is a track that matches his style.
“There are a lot of turns here. Coming from Monza, six corners around the 23 corner lap, decent corners. So you definitely have to feel the car and be smart with the way you drive in the first part of the lap to save the tires for the second part, all that kind of stuff.
“You have to have confidence with the car, you have to develop that confidence in practice. And yeah, for some reason it’s true Singapore, I’ve always been fast all my life. It happens in Australia too.
“There is no explanation, but Melbourne is still another track. I’m not that fast at Spa so I still have things to learn even after 22 years in F1. But there are trends which are always the same.
The Spaniard admitted the drying qualifying session had been stressful and joked that his risk-taking hadn’t been good for his heart.
Crucially, Alonso lines up ahead of Lando Norris’ McLaren, giving Alpine an edge in the ongoing battle for fourth in the World Championship.
The race marks Alonso’s 350th start, making him the first driver in F1 history to reach the landmark.
“I think if it’s dry it’s going to be difficult to overtake,” he said. “So it will be good to secure the top five and score more points than McLaren, who will again be the main focus. If it’s wet obviously there’s a lot of things that could happen.
“It could be a really good race for us, or a really bad one, if you crash or whatever it could be a DNF. It is therefore a lot of risk if it rains tomorrow, but we are two positions from the podium. So why not dream big tonight?”
Alonso had shown good form throughout qualifying, finishing fifth on the intermediates in Q2 as the track dried out, before repeating that on the slicks in the final session.
“It was stressful, no doubt, even borderline fun I think because the level of risk and stress was quite high,” he said when asked by Autosport about a hectic session.
“When we put the dry tires on in Q3, it was a brave decision on everyone’s part, because it was just a guess.
“In the end it was the right decision, but going every lap faster and faster than the previous lap, entering the corner just hoping the car stays on track, and the track will be drier than there was. at a minute and a half when you came through that corner, it’s just a lot of stress. So hopefully tomorrow a race a bit calmer.”
Fernando Alonso, Alpine F1 Team
Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images
When asked if he liked the risk, he said: “No, because I’m not fighting for the world championship, so it can’t be good for my heart to take that level of risk to really not much reward! I still do it, even though I’m P20, I’ll take the same level of risk. But today was a bit above all the other qualifiers of the year.”
The performance was achieved with Alpine’s new floor, but while Alonso agreed it worked as expected, he played down his actual lap time contribution.
“It was a step forward with the data we collected yesterday. I’m so happy with the stage. I think we have to wait for Suzuka to feel the package a bit more because here in Singapore every race , there is an evolution of the track, you can’t read the data much, and also in terms of the sensations coming from Monza and going to Singapore, it is very difficult to judge the car.
“I think we’re certainly more competitive with the upgrade, but maybe when we update the car we’ll update to tenths of a second. We’re seven tenths behind Norris, and five tenths of [Carlos] Sainz, so I can race with Bahrain’s car and still be in the same position, probably.”
Alonso, who won the race in 2008 and 2010, acknowledged that Singapore is a track that matches his style.
“There are a lot of turns here. Coming from Monza, six corners around the 23 corner lap, decent corners. So you definitely have to feel the car and be smart with the way you drive in the first part of the lap to save the tires for the second part, all that kind of stuff.
“You have to have confidence with the car, you have to develop that confidence in practice. And yeah, for some reason it’s true Singapore, I’ve always been fast all my life. It happens in Australia too.
“There is no explanation, but Melbourne is still another track. I’m not that fast at Spa so I still have things to learn even after 22 years in F1. But there are trends which are always the same.