Lance Stroll reaches SQ3 in Shanghai Sprint qualifying, while Fernando Alonso falls just short in a tight midfield battle.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll secured a spot in the top 10 during Sprint Qualifying today at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, edging into SQ3 and locking in 10th place on the grid.
The Canadian driver put in the slowest time of the final shootout session, but it was just enough to finish ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso, who will start 11th.
“It was a solid Sprint Qualifying session for us,” Stroll said. “I’m happy to have made it into SQ3. We chose to run used soft tyres throughout the session to save fresh sets for tomorrow’s main qualifying, so it’s still tough to judge exactly where we stack up in the midfield. We’ll keep working to improve for the rest of the weekend.”
Alonso narrowly missed out on the top 10 after a promising early performance in SQ1, where he briefly held P2. Despite being knocked out in SQ2, the two-time world champion was upbeat.
“Overall, I’m quite happy with Sprint Qualifying,” Alonso said. “The car felt really competitive. We had a great first push lap in SQ1 – finishing second – but just missed the cut for SQ3. Still, it’s encouraging that we had one car in the final session. The midfield is super tight, so we’ll see what we can do in the Sprint.”
“Our main focus remains on Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race, but tomorrow’s Sprint is another good opportunity to score points.”
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Aston Martin Split: Stroll Shines, Alonso Just Misses Aston Martin Split: Stroll Shines, Alonso Just Misses
