Fernando Alonso felt he had a positive day at Silverstone, especially as the experienced Spaniard made it through to Q3 for his McLaren-Honda team.
Alonso was unable to better tenth during the final session, losing a quicker lap that could have seen him start eighth due to exceeding track limits, but will move up to ninth for Sunday’s British Grand Prix due to Sebastian Vettel’s gearbox penalty.
The Spaniard believes he is in a position for a good result on Sunday, and hopes that team-mate Jenson Button can join him inside the points despite the Briton’s disappointing session that left him down in seventeenth.
“This weekend has been positive for us so far,” said Alonso. “We’re still missing a little bit of speed along the straights, but we can fortunately compensate for that through the long corners around here. So I think we’re in a position where we could score points tomorrow.
“In qualifying, we ultimately didn’t have the speed to climb any higher in Q3; but starting ninth, following Sebastian’s [Vettel] penalty, is a good place for us, particularly after two races with reliability issues.
“There’s wet weather forecast for tomorrow, and some drops of rain in the middle of the race would make it more fun for me, so I think we’re ready for anything that comes our way.
“I’d love to see two McLaren-Hondas in the points tomorrow.”
