Alonso 'living in a dream' after P5: "I don't know what to say"

Fernando Alonso drove the fifth fastest time in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix and he himself is amazed by this. In free practice, the Aston Martin driver was regularly on top, but he knew that was no longer realistic later on Saturday. Nevertheless, the two-time world champion couldn't believe his luck.

"Our expectation was to be around half a second from Red Bull and I think we had half a second or sixth tenths from pole position so it was quite right, I don't know what to say," Alonso interjects, speaking to GPblog and others in Bahrain. "I think we still need to unlock a lot of potential to be in the top five, fighting with Ferrari and Mercedes, it seems a little bit unreal but we take it for sure."

The decision to leave Alpine for an adventure at Aston Martin does not seem to be doing him any favours for the time being. Alonso had not expected to be fighting for the front positions until 2024, but to his own surprise, the AMR23 has been competitive from the very first moment.

Alonso surprised by Aston Martin performance

"It feels so strange for me that we are starting P5 and maybe aiming for more. We really thought the first three teams would be untouchable this year because of the advantage they had last year, but now we are fighting for the podium with Ferrari, so this is incredible. Let’s keep on going, keep working, keep both feet on the ground and execute the race in the best way possible, no mistakes, a good start, good pitstops and let’s see where we are, we are living the dream."

The veteran driver thinks there are great times ahead for Aston Martin. "I think there is not much more to downplay, because this was qualifying in the same conditions," said Alonso, who predicted even more great things to come in the near future.