News Summary
- Fernando Alonso called for intermediates in Q2 after deciding his best lap on full wets was unlikely to keep him in the top 10.
- He qualified ninth with a 1:30.311 and is set to start eighth after Charles Leclerc’s grid penalty.
- Alonso said he prefers a wet race on Sunday after finishing 18th in dry final practice.
Fernando Alonso wants more rain on Sunday after a tyre gamble put Aston Martin into Q3 for the first time in 2026. He qualified ninth in the rain-hit São Paulo Grand Prix qualifying session and is set to start eighth after Charles Leclerc’s 10-place grid penalty.
“Wet conditions, you can have a DNF with a stupid mistake or you can score points,” Alonso told Sky Sports F1. “And at this point in the season, I think we prefer to take the gamble.”
Why Alonso called for intermediates in Q2
Alonso said the limited wet running this season had left teams still learning how the 2026 intermediates and full wets behaved. By Q2, he was ninth and felt he had already got as much as he could from the full wets. He called for intermediates as the track began to improve and ended the segment seventh.
“I said, you know, we are P9. So if we could keep on going and we change nothing, probably we will be out of Q3,” he said. “If it works, we are in Q3. If it doesn’t, we will be out of Q3 anyway with a full wet, so it was worth trying.”
Cold tyres and battery deployment cost Alonso in Q3
Alonso was first in the pit-lane queue for Q3, hoping to get a lap in before heavier rain arrived. He thought that might give him a shot at the top five. The rain held off long enough for his rivals to get two timed laps in, while Alonso’s early start left him trying to find grip on cold tyres.
“I think the first lap I had the tyres ice cold. I had no grip at all,” Alonso said. He had used much of his available electrical deployment on that first attempt, expecting it to be his only shot. “In the first lap, I didn’t have the tyres ready. In the second, I didn’t have the deployment ready.”
Alonso was 18th in dry final practice. With changeable conditions forecast for Sunday, he sees rain as his better chance of turning a fourth-row start into points. “I think on dry conditions, we’re struggling a little bit more than expected this weekend,” he said. “So, yeah, I prefer wet tomorrow.”
GRANDE PRÊMIO is following every session of the São Paulo Grand Prix in Formula 1 live from Interlagos.
