Alonso: Third place on Spanish GP grid shows Ferrari's progress

Having already stated that the Spanish race was a crucial one for the squad, Alonso made the qualifying session count, comfortably making it into Q3 before locking down a second row start for tomorrow's race.

"Thanks to the updates we took a step forward in right direction," said Alonso.

"Now we arrive to Q3 in a more comfortable way, and in Q3 the level is good. If I had 100 more tyres I would do same time, so [there is no] more time left.

"For us it was impossible even to dream about being in the top three in the first four races. We were arriving in Q3 with no new sets [of tyres] left, so that is a step forward.

"I think P3 is over performing what we can do at the moment, but I am happy. There is much more to come."

Alonso also said that tomorrow's race will be a golden opportunity for Ferrari to steal some points from the likes of Red Bull Racing, which struggled in qualifying.

"The points are given tomorrow, not today," he added.

"We did as much as we could today we are happy to start in much better position than we did in the previous grand prix. But we need the points tomorrow. These positions are mixed a little bit, with some of the people in front [of us in] the championship starting at the back tomorrow.

"So we need to take [advantage] of this good position today and score more points than them."

Team-mate Felipe Massa qualified in 17th position.