The Spanish driver, competing for Aston Martin, will start the Grand Prix on Saturday from the second row after driving his AMR24 just four tenths of a second behind the consistently dominant Max Verstappen from Red Bull.
Alonso displayed exceptional speed in the first two sectors, but later lost time in the final sector and ended up behind Charles Leclerc from Ferrari and Sergio Perez from Red Bull, securing fourth place.
Despite this setback, the experienced veteran expressed his satisfaction with his performance and praised the team for providing a reliable car. He stated: “It’s another pleasant surprise to have a strong Qualifying in Jeddah. We are highly competitive on a single lap and our car is performing admirably in Qualifying.
“I really enjoyed every lap out there tonight. On my last lap in Q3, I managed to benefit from a tow from Lewis [Hamilton] on the main straight, but maybe lost a fraction of a second in Turn 1, so it balanced out over the whole lap.”
The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is known for its chaotic races and numerous overtaking opportunities, as witnessed in previous seasons. Alonso acknowledges the challenges he will face in the 50-lap race on Saturday.
“Aston Martin achieved a commendable result, but the real test awaits us tomorrow. We remain grounded and will evaluate our race pace,” Alonso added.
Meanwhile, Lance Stroll in the other Aston Martin secured tenth place in Qualifying. The Canadian expressed disappointment with his final run, leaving him as the slowest among the Q3 drivers.
Stroll’s fastest lap came in the early stages of the session, but he couldn’t improve it as his competitors found additional time. This left him puzzled: “Q1 was very good; the car felt extremely positive. However, I believe we encountered some issues in Q3 and we need to investigate further.
“The car felt a bit challenging, and I lost time in the final sector, which mainly consists of straights, on my last lap in Q3.”
The 25-year-old driver hopes to move up the ranks during the race. Stroll added: “We need to look into why we couldn’t improve after Q1. Our performance was much stronger at the beginning of Qualifying than at the end. We will see what we can achieve tomorrow – it will be a long race with significant tire degradation, presenting numerous opportunities.”
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will start at 17:00 GMT (20:00 local time) on Saturday, March 9.
