Fernando Alonso reached the final in the fifth consecutive qualifying with a ninth fastest time in Spielberg. The Spanish driver said he damaged the underside of the car during the session, preventing him from reaching it.
His Alpine teammate Esteban Okon also made the top ten, finishing in sixth place at the start of Saturday’s sprint.
Esteban Ocon (6th): “I’m happy with today’s qualifying result. After a fairly difficult practice and the first part of qualifying, the car seemed to come alive in the second session and in the final. I have a good position at the start of the sprint. I hope we can strengthen our position at the start of the main race and earn points.
We have the opportunity to add, but we have yet to evaluate the speed of the car with a full tank – we will do this in the second session of free practice. I’m optimistic – I think we can do a good sprint and race, but we have to stay focused.”
Fernando Alonso (9th): “The car is competitive today. It’s great that we made it to the final again. However, on the first lap of the final I damaged the underside of the car and lost speed. If it hadn’t been for that I think I could have been fighting for a top five or six place which would have been a great starting position for the sprint.
I’ll start in ninth and expect to regain a few places – I’m sure it’s possible. Friday we were generally competitive. I’m looking forward to an interesting fight in the sprint and a lot of points in the race.”
Alan Permain, sports director: “We are quite happy with today’s performance in qualifying. Given how the session went, I think sixth and seventh were our maximum for today, if everything went in our favour, but it turned out how it turned out.
Esteban performed strongly and improved every lap from session to session, helping him to have a great run in the final. Fernando was unlucky on his first attempt in the final when he damaged the bottom, affecting his speed. We will work to get his car back in time for the sprint.
The team is happy with the speed of the car – we are in a great position to score points with two cars in the sprint and in Sunday’s race.”
Source: F1 News
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