Saturday: Alonso satisfied with developments, Räikkönen makes a mistake

Fernando Alonso (No. 14) – 6th and 4th

Fourth when he might have been expected a bit further down the grid, Fernando Alonso also shared his semi-surprise. The good news comes from the improvements made by the Scuderia, which seem to have paid off: « I am torn after this qualifying, because on one hand, it is the best result since the beginning of the season, but it is also true that this session was very unusual, and it’s highly unlikely that the finishing order truly reflects the hierarchy on the track. The fourth place compensates for the disappointment of not having done a perfect lap in Q3, and it should make us proud of what we have accomplished so far, because the developments we started bringing since Canada indicate that we are on the right track. »

But the Spanish driver does not see himself on the podium and expects to suffer this Sunday: « With some faster cars in front of us, we can expect a difficult race, where defending will be as important as attacking. Now, we must try and work hard to take full advantage of this benefit, for as long as possible for the strategy, and finally to have a solid race. »

Kimi Räikkönen (No. 7) – 9th and 8th

The Finn is once again outpaced by his teammate. He never managed a good lap in Q3 and willingly admits his mistakes: « During these two days I struggled more to put everything together for a good lap and even today, in qualifying, not everything went well. In Q3, I went out for a single run on Super Softs, but mistakes made in the first corner affected my lap time. On my last run, I locked the wheels, damaging the front left tire, but despite this, I decided to continue to try to improve. Even though eighth place is not a disaster, I am disappointed because we were faster than the other day, but I never managed to be consistent in all three sectors. »

As for tomorrow’s race, the 2007 world champion remains somewhat vague about his goals: « Our race pace is good, and even though I still find it a bit difficult to get the tires to the right temperature, I will try to do my best tomorrow. »