The double world champion set the third fastest time in qualifying, 0.465 seconds away from Perez's ultimate pace, but will move up to the front row on the grid as Charles Leclerc will cop at least a 10-place grid penalty for taking on new control electronics.
Despite a solid qualifying result, the consensus is that Aston Martin is much stronger in race trim, and Alonso explained that general long-run pace and a light touch with tyres will yield more performance on Sunday.
