Fernando Alonso jokes he will ‘attack Max Verstappen’ after surprise F1 qualifying result | F1 | Sport

“Thanks to the wet conditions today the car was mega. I was so comfortable with driving this car and I think the fans also pushed me to make that extra push.

Alonso was nearly two seconds ahead of his team-mate Esteban Ocon, who qualified seventh. It was also a better qualifying for Hamilton than recent weeks as he put his Mercedes ahead of both Haas drivers to start on the second row alongside Sainz.

Russell’s decision to go onto softs may have cost him a chance of taking fourth or even higher, but still has a chance of taking solid points from eighth. Daniel Ricciardo did just enough to pip Guanyu Zhou for ninth, but there will be some pressure on Perez, down in 13th, to battle through the pack on Sunday.