Fernando Alonso qualified sixth after reaching Q3 for the second time in as many races. As a result of Lewis Hamilton's grid penalty, he moved up to fifth place on the grid, his highest starting position since the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.

Q3 | Run 1

Fernando heads out on a fresh pair of soft boots. #TurkishGP pic.twitter.com/16SBwHjCC0

— Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) October 9, 2021

Qualifying begins at 15:00 p.m. local time. The danger of rain remained until the start of the session, as all vehicles attempted to establish a lap-time as early as possible in Q1. Both Alpine drivers were comfortable throughout and improved their lap times on their second laps on the soft tyre compound to progress to Q2.

In Q2, both drivers, along with all but three cars in the field, used new medium tyre compositions. Alonso knocked on the door of the top three and advanced to Q3 with a time of 1:23.914.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Fernando Alonso (@fernandoalo_oficial)

Post-qualifying Alonso comments, “It felt good today and I am happy with the result. The car felt fast, and I think we made the correct choice on which tyres to use in all of the sessions."

He continues, "We were also fast enough to qualify on the Medium tyres in Q2, which was a nice luxury to have! We seem competitive so I think we have a good chance to score points tomorrow." 

He concludes, "Let’s see if we can keep the pace with those around us. I think strategy will be key, as we saw tyre graining was quite high in dry conditions. We’ll be looking at the weather forecast and take it step by step.”

Turn 8. @AlpineF1Team pic.twitter.com/SQwPW0o8uo

— Fernando Alonso (@alo_oficial) October 9, 2021