Fernando Alonso experienced a roller coaster of a Qualifying session for the Singapore GP, where he finished in P10.
The struggles for the Aston Martin Driver started in Q1, where he barely made it to the next round.
In Q2, the performance slightly improved enough so that the Spaniard was able to make it into the Top 10 for the final shootout in Q3.
However, Alonso described his run in Q3 as ‘concerning’ after he had to settle for his P10 starting position.
Not the position Alonso and Aston Martin would have hoped to be in ahead of Qualifying for the Singapore GP.
The Spaniard thus believes tomorrow’s race will be tough due to his starting position.
“Q3 was concerning, and also Q1, we’re in 14th and 16th, I think.”
“Definitely not the places we want to be.”
“We recovered a little bit in Q2 and Q3 to be in the top 10, but it’s not the best starting position to note on the wrong side of the grid as well.”
“It’s going to be tough to start tomorrow.”
The setup changes slowed the car.
Aston Martin made changes to the setup of the AMR 25 ahead of qualifying for the Singapore GP.
Unfortunately, the setup choice did not have the desired effect, with Alonso reckoning that it made the car slower.
“We changed the insetting and the setup.”
“We made the car slower.”
“It happens sometimes, and the others make the car faster, so the combination is just a few percentage [points] away.”
In addition to the setup changes that, from Alonso’s perspective, contributed to the lack of pace, the improvement of other teams was also a factor in the performance loss in Qualifying.
“Both. I think our setup went backwards, and others did improve the car.”
Alonso doubts a points finish.
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s Singapore GP, Alonso feels that Aston Martin might not be fast enough to score points.
The Spaniard notes that the four top teams primarily cover the points-paying positions.
In addition, Alonso believes that Racing Bulls, particularly Isack Hadjar, as well as Haas and Williams, will likely be faster in the race.
“I think, yeah, it’s going to be difficult. “
“I mean, we are not fast enough to win the points. “
“There are the top four teams, and the fifth clear top team is AlphaTauri [Racing Bulls], Isack Hadjar, and then here, Haas are clearly in front of us, and maybe Williams as well.”
“We put a lot together today, and if you put the two cars together, I think we are maybe the eighth fastest team or something like that. “
“If we score points, it’s welcome, but maybe we don’t deserve it.”
The starting position is a disadvantage.
Another obstacle for Alonso is his P10 starting position, which will see him head into the Singapore GP from the unfavorable side of the track.
The Aston Martin Driver believes that starting from P11 might be a more advantageous position for the start.
“Yeah, I think so.
“It’s not that we decide, but when you start P10, actually, you probably prefer to start P11, that guarantees you maybe points for tomorrow.”
Alonso added that support races might help clean up the track before the start of the Singapore GP.
“It looks a little bit dirty in the practices that we made after the sessions, but there are a couple of races tomorrow, some Porsche races, the F1 Academy, so maybe tomorrow is fine.”
Using the cooling vest for the Singapore GP.
Ahead of the Singapore GP practice sessions, the FIA declared a weather hazard due to the high temperatures.
The drivers could thus opt to use a cooling vest during the sessions.
Alonso did not use the vest in Qualifying but is looking forward to using it during the Singapore GP, as the vest proved to be an ‘improvement’ in FP1.
“No, this is the normal, underneath I didn’t use it in qualy, I will use it in the race.
“I did use it in FP1, it worked fine for us, it was an improvement, so hopefully tomorrow is best.”
Lance Stroll on his Singapore GP Qualifying
Alonso’s teammate, Lance Stroll, was out in Q1 and will head into the Singapore GP from P17. jim
Stroll was brief in his assessment of his Qualifying session, explaining that he experienced snaps and other unnamed issues.
“Okay, just snaps and stuff so….”
“It’s the last run,” he added when pressed about the problem in Qualifying for the Singapore GP.
When asked if he had anything further to add, Stroll responded: “No.”
