Alonso 'feeling good' despite trailing rivals in qualifying

Fernando Alonso was "optimistic" for the remainder of his race weekend after qualifying in Austria despite being outpaced by his direct rivals and by his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll.

Alonso, who currently sits third in the Drivers' standings behind Red Bull chargers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, will line up seventh on the grid of Sunday's race.

The Spaniard acknowledged that it had been an "intense" session as the tight spread between the front-runners in each segment of qualifying indicated.

"I feel good after that qualifying session. It’s always intense qualifying here where the lap times are so close," commented Alonso.

"If you look at the timing board throughout the three sessions, there are two or three tenths between a number of cars.

"We had one lap time deleted in Q2, which forced us to put an extra set of tyres on the car to progress. It then meant we only had one chance on new tyres in Q3, which wasn’t ideal."

• 2023 Austrian Grand Prix - Qualifying Results

Alonso reckoned that starting seventh won't weigh on his prospects for Sunday's race in which the 41-year-old will aim for a seventh podium in nine races.

Until then, he'll also be giving its his all in Saturday's Sprint Shootout and race at the Red Bull Ring which look set to take place in wet conditions according to the latest weather forecast for Spielberg.

"Sixth and seventh are strong starting positions for us," he said. "I think it’ll be interesting and exciting with the weather as there is a chance of rain tomorrow and maybe dry conditions on Sunday.

"The car feels good, so I'm optimistic heading into the rest of the weekend."

On the other side of the Aston garage, Stroll felt that he had made the most of Friday's qualifying exercise.

"I was happy with how the AMR23 was feeling today and pleased with my final lap; I think we got everything we could have out of that qualifying session," he said.

"Track limits were tight, and I had a couple of laps deleted as I was trying to really commit to those fast corners, but it was the same for everyone and something we’re used to around this circuit.

"It looks like we could be in for some slightly challenging weather conditions for the Sprint events tomorrow, so it’s good to have a solid starting position on the board as we look ahead to Sunday’s race."

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