Aston Martin scored a scintillating double-Q2 appearance in Sepang, but Fernando Alonso has pinpointed the result to a “miracle”.
The Silverstone-based squad defied all logic as both cars sailed through to the second round of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
And not only that, but Alonso managed to secured a season-best of P12, with teammate Lance Stroll 14th, celebrating their recent retention with the team for 2027.
The Aston-Honda collaboration has been fraught with a seismic power deficit all season, with power circuits naturally being its kryptonite.
But the extreme high-speed profile of the Sepang Circuit did not seem to be too high a bar for performance of the AMR26, the result surprising many, with it easily clearing the Cadillac benchmark Aston has been up against at the back of the field.
But Alonso, speaking after qualifying, played down the significance of the result, and offered his reasons for doing so.
“We are less competitive, and I think so far it has been a good weekend, a good Saturday for us,” he told media, including Motorsport Week. “But we need to have our feet on the ground.
“There are some fast cars starting behind us with some penalties as well – tomorrow, they will come through strong. In the first laps of the race we may lose a lot of positions on the straights with the main 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.”
READ MORE – F1 2026 Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia – Qualifying Results
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