Bahrain GP: Fernando Alonso relaxed about missing out on pole

Although Alonso was fastest in final practice, and team-mate Felipe Massa had led the way on Friday morning, the Spaniard was outpaced by Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull.

Having won from third on the grid in China a week ago, Alonso said a row two slot in Bahrain was fine for him.

"It is true that on Sundays normally we improve our performance and are more competitive on Sunday than Saturday," he said.

"On Friday the long run was more or less OK and there was no big trouble with tyres.

"Tomorrow will be a good opportunity for us to get consistency and we can fight for the podium - and maybe a win would be even better."

Alonso chose not to complete his second Q3 run, preferring to conserve tyres once he realised pole was a long shot.

"At the last corner I saw I was half a tenth to one tenth slower so we decided to come in and save one lap on those tyres," Alonso said.

"You never know if you'll have to use it in the race.

"Usually in qualifying we struggle a lot whereas today we were happy.

"It puts us in a strong position for racing with the leaders and fighting for a podium."