Fernando Alonso hailed his Chinese Grand Prix qualifying lap as "one of the best" he's ever done in his career, after securing P13 on the grid, having been only 17th quickest in practice on Saturday morning.
The McLaren driver finished inside the top 10 during Q1, in which several midfield rivals were hampered by Antonio Giovinazzi's late crash, which brought out the yellows, and ultimately classified 13th during the second knockout phase.
"Like in Australia, it was one of the best laps I've done in my life," said the Spaniard. "In Australia and here. I feel good with the car, I feel capable of pushing to the limit.
"The predictions [for qualifying] were more pessimistic, especially after we couldn't run yesterday. In the end, 13th is the divine present.
"This morning we tried a few new pieces and everything worked as expected, but we were 17th and 19th with all the power available, and we faced qualifying thinking of fighting Sauber for the final places."
Heading into Sunday's race, Alonso is wary of the threat those around him pose, particuarly along the lengthy back straight, which is set to expose McLaren and Honda's lack of straight-line speed.
But Alonso is hopeful the weather, with rain forecast, can provide a helping hand.
"In the dry, as soon as we reach the back straight, if we are starting 13th, we'll end up 15th or 16th. In the wet we'd still be 15th or 16th at the end of the straight, but we'll try to take some more risks in the corners."
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