Fernando Alonso issues startling 'upside down' claim over latest struggles

Fernando Alonso has admitted positive surprise over his run to 11th place during qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix after enduring struggles throughout the weekend.

The Spaniard stated he was changing the car “upside down” as he chased performance at the Red Bull Ring.

Alonso is seeking his third consecutive points finish, having enjoyed a strong uptick in form of late after failing to score in the opening eight rounds of the campaign.

Alonso highlighted his concerns with the Aston Martin car were prevalent throughout the weekend and could not be eradicated in time for qualifying.

“I think the whole weekend has been so-so for me,” Alonso told media including RacingNews365. “I was not happy with the car. 

“We had a very unbalanced car since FP1, very understeering at high speed, very oversteering in the slow speed [corners]. 

“We tried multiple setups between the two cars just to try to help each other and try to get to a conclusion faster.

“And we could not move the character of the car from that and we still ended up in qualifying with exactly the same balance problem that we had in FP1. So that was the frustrating thing throughout the weekend.”

While Alonso is holding out hope for another trip to the points, the 43-year-old is expecting a difficult race behind the wheel.

“But on the other side position-wise is not too bad. P11 is only one place away from the points. So let's take the good part of the qualifying and hopefully be a little bit stronger [on Sunday].

“I [would have] signed [for P11], for sure. I was struggling. I was changing the car upside down with set up.

“Another run, the car felt the same. Going into qualifying, the car felt the same, and I thought it was a difficult afternoon.

“So we managed to be P11, which is a good result, but I'm concerned for [the race], no doubts.”