Alonso hails Verstappen’s ‘magical’ Suzuka pole · RaceFans

Fernando Alonso described Max Verstappen’s surprise pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix as a “magical moment.”

The Aston Martin driver was eliminated in the second round of qualifying and was able to watch Verstappen snatch pole away from Lando Norris by a hundredth of a second with his final lap in qualifying.

“Only he can do it, only he can do it,” Alonso told Viaplay after the session finished. “I think there is no other driver at the moment that can drive a car and put it so high, or higher than the car deserves.

“I think it was a magical moment for everyone here.”

Alonso has claimed 22 pole positions in his career, the last of which came at the German Grand Prix in 2012. Verstappen arrived in F1 three years later and took his 42nd pole today.

While Lance Stroll qualified the other Aston Martin last, Alonso reached Q2 and will start from 13th place. He doesn’t believe the car was capable of much better.

“I think we gave it everything on track today,” he said. “Unfortunately, maybe we don’t have the pace yet to be in Q3. P14 in Q1, P13 in Q2, maybe it’s where we deserve [to be] today.”

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He is hopeful the possibility of rain ahead of tomorrow’s race will “offer more opportunities” for Aston Martin. “I think by pure pace, we’re struggling to be in the points, probably.”

Alonso is yet to score this season after suffering a brake problem in China and crashing in the rain-hit Australian Grand Prix.

“In Australia I was pushing, I was fast but I didn’t finish the race,” he reflected. “That can happen in the rain tomorrow.

“You can be conservative and see what happens at the end of the race so you can attack and try to be fast with the risk of another DNF. We will try to do our best strategy tomorrow.”

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