Alonso aims for 'lovely' target aware of fellow world champions behind

10:15, 03 Aug

Updated: 11:39, 03 Aug

byKada Sarkozi

Fernando Alonso was ever close to his first pole position since the 2012 German Grand Prix. Looking ahead to the Grand Prix, the Spaniard remained cautious.

The Aston Martin drivers, Alonso and Lance Stroll, finished in P5 and P6 respectively in qualifying on Saturday.

Moreover, he was around a tenth away from even topping the time sheet.

"Track characteristics, to be honest. We didn’t change the car massively since Spa seven days ago, no new parts for anybody at this race. Just the layout, the characteristics of the circuit, is suiting our car, apparently," he began about the team's turn around from Spa-Francorchamps to GPblog among others.

A weekend ago, the Spaniard finished in P19 on Saturday afternoon. “It would be nice to understand this, why the car is operating in this sweet spot here because, if we understand that, we can use it in the next few races.”

This comes after Alonso had to miss FP1 on Friday, because of a 'muscular injury in his back'.

The driver is glad not to miss this weekend. "When the car is a little bit faster, you will not enjoy watching TV. Probably I would enjoy watching Spa if I was about to miss that race!"

"But you never know. I got hurt a little bit in the Spa race with the seat, and have this torn muscle fibre or something like that. So that needs a little bit of relaxation. I have four weeks after tomorrow [Sunday] and I will enjoy summer a little bit, relaxing and recovering.”

For the second time this season, Fernando Alonso will start from P5 on the grid

What can the Aston Martins achieve on Sunday?

The Aston Martins complete the third row on the grid this Sunday. Looking ahead, Alonso said: "I think it's going to be difficult to be honest. I would like if we can finish in the same positions as we start, fifth and sixth will be lovely in terms of points for the team before the summer break. That will be the first target.”

"If we can recover any places, it would be good. But I think we need to understand as well that there are some threats from behind, some fast cars, Max [Verstappen] is starting from behind, Lewis [Hamilton] as well, so it’s not going to be easy," he said aware of the two other world champions, who qualified in P8 and P12.