Sao Paulo, Nov 8 (IANS) Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin into the top 10 for the first time this season after he took P9 at the rain-affected Sao Paulo Grand Prix qualifying here.
Alonso was pleased to reach Q3 for the first time in 2026 and will start P8, as Charles Leclerc will drop 10 places from P4 after taking his fifth Internal Combustion Engine.
“Not fun because the conditions were tricky. The level of focus was quite high today,” said Alonso when asked about the session.
“Unknown conditions for everyone, especially on this year’s car. I think we didn’t have much practice on the wets. It was all experimental a little bit and the first Q3 of the season feels good.”
Aston Martin have endured a tough time in 2026 under the new regulations, and Alonso has scored the only points for his team this year in Monaco, the Netherlands and Malaysia.
A P8 start opens up more possibilities for points on Sunday.”It opens a new possibility for us. Obviously, the conditions, let’s see if tomorrow is wet all through the race, maybe we have a chance to score points,” said Alonso.
“If not, I think we will go back to our natural position. FP3 in the dry was a little bit disappointing, so we need to remain with our feet on the ground.”
Meanwhile, other midfield teams also enjoyed great outings in wet conditions as Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson took P5 and will be starting P3 as second-placed George Russell and Leclerc have penalties.
Nico Hulkenberg and his Audi enjoyed the best qualifying performance of the season too as he took P6 and will be starting P4. “Typical, classic Sao Paulo, I guess. You never know when the shower is going to hit you and how hard it is,” Hulkenberg said after qualifying.
“But very happy obviously after yesterday, good recovery and I guess the rain helped a bit as well to make up for that lack of running yesterday. But I was happy, confident with the car, managed to produce good laps and yeah, feels nice, feels good.”
“We have to see,” he said when asked about what was achievable in the race. “All to play for obviously, we’re starting in a good position; try to race clean and get the maximum out of it tomorrow,” he added.
–IANS
vm/bc
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