Alonso impressed in Shanghai by beating the McLaren and Ferrari cars to third place in Q3, the best place behind the dominant Red Bulls of pole-sitter Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
But Alonso admitted he was considering abandoning the final lap that propelled him onto the grid after he slipped in the complex start sequence at the Shanghai circuit, costing him a few tenths.
“In the first sector I had a moment in turns 1 and 2 and almost lost the car,” Alonso said.
“And then I said: ‘Okay, do I continue or do I stop the lap? Because I lost about two tenths in two corners. But we didn’t give up, we kept pushing all the way through. along the lap and achieved a good lap time.
The Spaniard said his Aston Martin team had taken advantage of the reopening of parc ferme, a new addition to the revised sprint weekend format, to make further changes to the car which he hopes will carry their fruit during Sunday’s grand prix.
But he admitted that the ever-changing track conditions made some of these setup changes a draw for the team.
“I think the car has improved since this morning, we made some changes to the settings. Let’s see tomorrow if we can translate that into good points,” he explained.
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“You can’t completely change the car because you’re in the rhythm of the weekend, but you can always make some small changes to the settings.
“Some of them are just balance issues, but others are just guesses you make in tomorrow’s race and flip the coin.
“Until tomorrow afternoon we won’t know the answer, but I’m extremely happy, proud of the team.
“We’re not giving up. We’re not in the position we want yet but we’re continuing to push.”
Alonso was also in contention for a top-three finish in Saturday morning’s sprint, but dropped out after suffering a puncture while battling Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
The incident earned him a 10-second penalty after the race, after the two-time world champion had already left the race.
Alonso impressed in Shanghai by beating the McLaren and Ferrari cars to third place in Q3, the best place behind the dominant Red Bulls of pole-sitter Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
But Alonso admitted he was considering abandoning the final lap that propelled him onto the grid after he slipped in the complex start sequence at the Shanghai circuit, costing him a few tenths.
“In the first sector I had a moment in turns 1 and 2 and almost lost the car,” Alonso said.
“And then I said: ‘Okay, do I continue or do I stop the lap? Because I lost about two tenths in two corners. But we didn’t give up, we kept pushing all the way through. along the lap and achieved a good lap time.
The Spaniard said his Aston Martin team had taken advantage of the reopening of parc ferme, a new addition to the revised sprint weekend format, to make further changes to the car which he hopes will carry their fruit during Sunday’s grand prix.
But he admitted that the ever-changing track conditions made some of these setup changes a draw for the team.
“I think the car has improved since this morning, we made some changes to the settings. Let’s see tomorrow if we can translate that into good points,” he explained.
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“You can’t completely change the car because you’re in the rhythm of the weekend, but you can always make some small changes to the settings.
“Some of them are just balance issues, but others are just guesses you make in tomorrow’s race and flip the coin.
“Until tomorrow afternoon we won’t know the answer, but I’m extremely happy, proud of the team.
“We’re not giving up. We’re not in the position we want yet but we’re continuing to push.”
Alonso was also in contention for a top-three finish in Saturday morning’s sprint, but dropped out after suffering a puncture while battling Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
The incident earned him a 10-second penalty after the race, after the two-time world champion had already left the race.