McLaren doing 'better than expected' says Alonso

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Not known for mincing his words when things aren't going well, Fernando Alonso was actually sounding quite positive about how today's qualifying went in Melbourne.

Alonso made it through Q1 and will start tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix from 13th place on the grid. Considering how McLaren's pre-season testing had gone just a couple of weeks ago, this was a good news.

"After the difficulties we encountered in winter testing, we came to Melbourne without a clear idea of where we stood," Alonso admitted.

"But we’ve more or less run through all the sessions without trouble – which is better than we’d expected.

“I had sufficient sets of tyres to be able to enjoy my laps in both Q1 and Q2," he added. "I was happy with the balance of the car and was able to really push it.

Hamilton takes pole for the 2017 Australian Grand Prix

"That’s useful because, at the moment, we need to extract the maximum out of the package we have.

"Tomorrow we’ll start 13th – in the middle of the pack – which is definitely not our target. Finishing the race is going to be tough.

"And, if we do finish it, to end up in a decent position we’ll need help from the weather and for other cars to encounter trouble."

Boullier praises Alonso's efforts

Racing director Eric Boullier was also feeling upbeat about how things had gone.

"Fernando showed all his experience this afternoon," he said. "He coupled it with his undiminished natural spee, to carve a perfect lap whose verve and fluidity deserved better than P13.

"But in truth that’s all our car is capable of delivering at the moment, and Fernando produced it all," he admitted, adding: "Bravo!"

GALLERY: all the pics from Saturday's action

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.