Alonso says track conditions during Q3 in Germany were 'on the limit'

The world championship leader said on the radio to his Ferrari team during the break between Q2 and Q3 that he felt the conditions were not ideal to drive in, as heavy rain swept over the track.

Q3 went ahead as planned though and as the rain abated slightly, the Spaniard took pole position with a 1m40.621s lap late in the session.

"I think the conditions were still very on the limit, as far as it is the same for everybody, I think sometimes it is good to check the circuit conditions," he said.

"We did Q3 and I think going into T6 it was not easy for anybody, there was a lot of aquaplaning and we are 280/90 km/h so... but you know everything went well for us and we backed off a little bit in those aquaplaning moments and the rest of the lap was clean."

Alonso added that he was relieved to have made it to the end of the session: "In these conditions there are surprises and moments everywhere. It was not fun.

"When you have these conditions its very difficult to put a clean lap together. Those are survival moments, you need to finish the session and see what you can get. Whatever the position, you are happy because you made the finish."

Alonso complimented his team as well for calling him halfway through Q3 to change tyres, which he said assisted his challenge for pole.

"I think also we made a good strategy call doing a pitstop in Q3 and then have a very fresh set of tyres in the last minute. That was when the track was in a little bit better condition and that helped us a lot to improve the laptime."

Alonso's initial lap at the start of Q3 appeared to be disrupted when he came upon his team-mate Felipe Massa at the hairpin, but he denied that he caused him any problems.

"We all wanted to set a time at the start of the session," he said. "We were all in a group and it was very close for a few corners but it was fine."