Q & A with Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso: "Yes, it was better than expected. I think we didn't look great on Friday or Saturday morning in the times, but we were a bit unlucky with the yellow flag situation and so on. So we could not improve the times.

"But qualifying was better than expected for sure, because fifth place and fourth place in Q1 and Q2 with everyone in the same conditions is a great result. So the P4 at the end is not due to strategy or things like that. As we saw in Barcelona, I think we will be similar to everybody. So this is good news for us."

Q: Is it a result of progress the team has made, or simply that the car is better suited to a low downforce configuration?

Alonso: "I don't know really. I think the car has some new parts here in the rear suspension, but I don't know how much the car improved with that. Also, Nelsinho didn't improve too much his position, so I don't know if the car is better or not.

"For me, in my case it has been good this weekend. I have been unlucky with the results in practice, but it doesn't matter. And with a good setup, we changed something in the philosophy, and we changed something in the suspension to improve the kerb riding, and maybe that is why we are better than some places."

Q: How was it with the track breaking up in qualifying?

Alonso: "Well, we tried to avoid the marbles for sure. But I think everybody tried to do the same. Maybe I was a little bit lucky with that, and I completed my lap with no mistake in the marbles all qualifying session. Maybe it is not normal to have a Ferrari, a McLaren and a BMW behind us, maybe they had some little problems in the corners and they lost a little bit of time. But we will see.

"I think it is not an easy problem because tomorrow it can be much worse than today, and if it is much worse than today it will be impossible to run. There were some corners that were very, very on the limit and you needed to put two wheels on the grass to avoid touching the marbles, so I think the race can be even a safety car situation if we cannot run any more."

Q: How much difference do the marbles make? Is it different lap by lap?

Alonso: "Yes it is a lottery because every lap is changing a bit. We try to brake as late as possible but if you brake one metre late and you miss the apex by one centimetre, you touch the marbles and they push you to the outside.

"Then you lose maybe three or four seconds in that corner, and also in the next two or three corners because the tyres are completely dirty and they are vibrating. It is a big issue. If this becomes worse and worse in the race, I don't know what the solution will be, but it will be very dangerous."

Q: Do you know why the surface work here has never got the situation sorted? Did the GPDA ask anything about it?

Alonso: "Not really, because the GPDA is not made for this type of thing - problems at the circuits. I know it is not new and is related to the type of asphalt that is in this circuit and related also to the super soft tyres that we are running in Canada always - that after a few laps they fall to pieces and you lose all this time in the hairpins."

Q: How important for your motivation and happiness is it to get good results this like?

Alonso: "It is good, but I have always the motivation and I never lose the pressure or the ambition to be better and better. For the team it is a good result and a big plus for everybody. They are working very hard.

"On Friday I had a bad day, I made a mistake, and I didn't finish the session. This is not what I am here for. On Saturday I was able to give the team a good result."

Q: In Q2 you were quite close to Ferrari. What kind of result is possible in the race?

Alonso: "I don't know. It was a surprise. We didn't know which kind of performance we were going to give here, because we had these problems in free practice. But we knew that we were maybe quite okay.

"But as you said, not as close as it seems to be with Ferrari. Because in Q1 and Q2 we were half a tenth behind them and now we have one Ferrari ahead and one Ferrari behind.

"For the race, sure, it will all depend on the strategies and the safety car luck we need to have. We will see. But maybe there is a real possibility here to fight with them. And if we have this possibility then we have to take our opportunity."