Fernando Alonso has completed his final qualifying session in Formula 1.
The Spaniard made it into Q2 before ending up in fifteenth position on the grid.
It took a classic Alonso qualifying lap to get the McLaren F1 Team car out of Q1, something that he wasn’t expecting.
“We weren’t optimistic at all about our chances of making it into Q2, as we haven’t been too competitive in any of the sessions so far this weekend, so it was a nice surprise,” he said.
“I was pushing quite hard on that qualifying lap – it felt good.”
Alonso secured a 21-0 qualifying head-to-head with teammate Stoffel Vandoorne by outqualifying him at Yas Marina Circuit.
It is the first qualifying sweep since Alonso himself did it back in 2008, with Nelson Piquet Junior as his teammate.
From fifteenth place, the points paying positions seem a world away, but Alonso is optimistic.
“We start five positions away from the points tomorrow and hopefully we can benefit from some action in front of us. On pure pace we’re maybe not in the top 10, but who knows tomorrow.”
Racing aside, this weekend will be emotional for the entire paddock as one of the all-time greats bows out of the sport.
Alonso is attempting to push those emotions to one side and get as much out of the race as he can.
“Outside the car there’s a lot of things happening this weekend: a lot of emotions and a lot of nice touches here and there,” he said.
“Tomorrow when I put the helmet on and jump in the car I’ll treat it like the last one, and I’ll try to enjoy it and do my best.”
