Here's the thing about Fernando Alonso: give him a wet track and a difficult machine, and the man will somehow drag it where it simply does not belong. The two-time World Champion put his Aston Martin into Q3 for the very first time this season during a rain-delayed qualifying session at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace ahead of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
That Saturday session was wild. Heavy rain initially pushed the schedule back, and once things finally got moving, the Spaniard stayed firmly inside the top half of the field. He logged P8, P7, and P9 across the three qualifying segments, catching the best of the track conditions right at the start of Q3 to officially claim ninth quickest.
If not, I think we will go back to our natural position. FP3 in the dry was a little bit disappointing, so we need to remain with the feet on the ground.
"Not fun because the conditions were tricky. The level of focus was quite high today," Alonso said of the demanding session. He also noted the unique challenge of tackling unknown weather with this year's car, admitting they lacked wet-weather practice and that the whole effort felt experimental.
It has been a genuinely tough campaign for Aston Martin under the new-for-2026 regulations. Even though a mid-season car revision brought some improvement, the Honda power unit is still struggling for both power and reliability. In fact, Alonso has shouldered the entire burden, scoring all of the team's points so far this year through top-10 finishes in Monaco, the Netherlands, and Malaysia.
Thanks to a grid penalty for Charles Leclerc, Alonso will actually start Sunday's 71-lap race from P8 instead. He believes a wet grand prix could open the door for more points, though he is keeping his expectations strictly managed.
"It opens a new possibility for us. Obviously the conditions, let's see if tomorrow is wet all through the race, maybe we have a chance to score points," Alonso stated. "If not, I think we will go back to our natural position. FP3 in the dry was a little bit disappointing, so we need to remain with the feet on the ground."
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