Fernando Alonso has urged his Aston Martin team to "keep its feet on the ground" after the "miracle" of fighting with faster cars in Bahrain GP in Malaysia qualifying.
Alonso will start a season-best 12th on the grid in Sepang as he and team-mate Lance Stroll reached Q2 for the first time at the same race all season.
Stroll will start 14th in the sister car, as Alonso missed out on a spot in Q3 by 0.406s - but promisingly, he was just 0.197s slower than Liam Lawson's Racing Bulls machine which fell in 11th place - with the Red Bull-Ford powertrains engine in the back of Lawson's car going onto power Max Verstappen to pole position.
However, when asked if the strong one-lap pace could be translated into a third points finish of the season, Alonso was wary of faster cars starting behind and the inability of Aston Martin-Honda to produce sufficient straight-line speed when in wheel-to-wheel combat with rivals.
"I think it was nearly the maximum, but I would say no," Alonso replied when asked by media, including RacingNews365, if points were possible in the grand prix.
"I mean, looking at the whole season, why should we be in the points tomorrow? We are less competitive, and I think it has been a good weekend and Saturday for us, but we need to have our feet on the ground.
"There are some fast cars starting behind us with penalties as well, and [in the race] they will come strong. In the first laps of the race, we may lose all the positions on the straights with our competitors, and then we cannot overtake them because we don't have the speed on the straight.
"We damage the tyres, so it's a miracle that we are fighting with cars that are much faster than us.
"You can manage the tyres, and you have a clean race, but if you are behind them because you lose positions on the first couple of straights and then you cannot pass because you don't have the top speed to overtake, then your race is heavily compromised.
"So it depends on a lot of things tomorrow on what we can achieve. Obviously, it's much better to start in P12 than P21, so let's try to enjoy."
The article continues below.
Alonso reacts to best performance of 2026
Aston Martin did not bring any upgrades to Sepang, with Alonso explaining that the performance was down to the circuit layout suiting the package.
"It is our best weekend in terms of car performance with both cars in Q2 for the first time, and I think I was 1.5s to the top of Q2, so it is definitely a step forward in terms of competitiveness," he said.
"The car is exactly the same as the last four rounds, since Budapest. So it's just telling you that it depends on the circuit layout and the amount of straights we have, if we can be more or less competitive.
"So nothing new in that regard. We just need to take opportunities when this weekend comes, and hopefully we will have a clean race."
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on the Azerbaijan GP but also look ahead to F1's return this weekend to Malaysia! Rumours linking Christian Horner with a return to the sport is a major talking point.
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