Fernando Alonso aimed a thinly-veiled jibe at former employers after qualifying on the front row of the grid for the Miami Grand Prix. The Spaniard will start behind Red Bull's Sergio Perez after Charles Leclerc brought an early end to the session when crashing his Ferrari at Turns 5 and 6. Alonso's performance was a strong rebound from a final practice session that saw neither Aston Martin drivers feature in the top 10, with teammate Lance Stroll also eliminated in Q1. "It was a good qualifying," said Alonso. "FP3 was a little bit messy for us, we tried a different set-up and it didn't work but the team put the car in a more normal place after the first four races and the car came alive in qualifying. "Extremely happy with P2, first row on the grid, let's see what we can do." Asked how he found the balance of his AMR23, the two-time champion added: "Perfect, I enjoyed every lap. It was so enjoyable to drive. "The low-speed corners here are quite tricky. You go quite close to the walls between Turns 10, 11 and 16 so you need to have the confidence in the car to attack qualifying - I had that confidence so I am very pleased."
I didn't have the team believing in me
Alonso made his shock switch to Aston Martin in the aftermath of Sebastian Vettel's retirement announcement at last season's Hungarian Grand Prix having impressed in his first two seasons back in F1 for Alpine, following his sabbatical racing in the World Endurance Championship, the Dakar Rally and Indianapolis 500. On his motivation now that he is fighting for podiums regularly, Alonso explained: "I have always been motivated and working hard but I didn't have the team believing in my performance or ability to set up the car moving forward, and I have never had a fast a car as I have now. "I have never changed anything but Aston Martin changed everything for me."
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