Alonso impressed in Shanghai by beating the McLaren and Ferrari vehicles to 3rd in Q3, the best-of-the-rest spot behind the dominant Purple Bulls of polesitter Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.
However Alonso admitted that he thought of aborting the ultimate lap that pushed him up the grid after slipping up by way of the advanced beginning sequence of the Shanghai circuit, which made him lose a few tenths.
“In sector one I had a second in Flip 1 and a couple of and I practically misplaced the automotive,” Alonso mentioned.
“After which I mentioned: ‘Okay, I preserve going or I abort the lap? As a result of I misplaced like two-tenths in two corners. However we did not quit, we saved pushing all by way of the lap and set a very good lap time.”
The Spaniard mentioned his Aston Martin squad had used the re-opening of parc ferme, a brand new addition to the revised dash weekend format, to make additional automotive tweaks that he hopes will repay in Sunday’s grand prix.
However he conceded the ever-changing observe circumstances made a few of these set-up modifications a coin toss for the crew.
“I feel the automotive did enhance since this morning, we made a number of set-up modifications. Let’s have a look at tomorrow if we are able to translate that into good factors,” he defined.
Picture by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“You can not change the automotive fully since you are into the rhythm of the weekend, however you possibly can nonetheless make some small setup modifications.
“A few of them are only for stability issues, however a few of them are simply guesses that you just do into tomorrow’s race and also you flip the coin.
“Till tomorrow afternoon we is not going to know the reply, however I am extraordinarily completely satisfied, happy with the crew.
“We’re not giving up. We’re not within the place we wish but however we preserve pushing.”
Alonso was additionally in rivalry for a top-three end in Saturday morning’s dash however retired after sustaining a puncture whereas preventing Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
The incident landed him a 10-second post-race penalty, regardless of the two-time world champion already having exited the race.