When Alonso greeted the crowd at Montmeló: "I have a car to fight in the middle of the grid."

It was only a few moments, but for those moments, Fernando Alonso allowed himself the pleasure of returning to the pits, greeting the fans . He had placed fifth, a tenth of a second behind Charles Leclerc 's Ferrari. He knew he wouldn't hold that position for long, given his only attempt in Q3 and with five minutes of the session still to go. Qualifying in the top ten gave him a renewed sense of excitement from Saturday's encounters in Imola and Monaco . In the media pen, he still had adrenaline pumping and a sense of satisfaction oozing from his pores.

The qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix confirmed the thrashing McLaren is expected to deliver to its rivals on Sunday, in a different league. With fears of a repeat of the Miami truce. For now, the fight for the other podium spot remains open as the best reward for its rivals, Ferrari or Mercedes.

For Carlos Sainz , the worst qualifying of the season, anticipated by the driver and his team since Thursday and given the history of previous editions for the Williams cars, was not as gloomy as his grid position reflected, and Alonso indirectly confirmed at the finish. "When you look at Q1 and see that we were a tenth off P7, but we were P18... All these fine margins and things that can happen to you in Q1 happened this Saturday . We just have to make sure we learn from it."

When the stands roared

In Q1, while Alonso easily took the lead, Sainz posted a 1:13.5 on his first attempt, half a second behind Albon, who finished sixth. With traffic on the second attempt and Colapinto's breakdown, the three-tenths improvement didn't prevent him from returning to the sensations he had experienced in China .

Alonso, for his part, was on fire. Seventh in Q1, he looked like Q3 material. "With a more normal weekend, here in Barcelona, ​​we'll find out our performance," he explained on Thursday. The performances at Imola weren't confirmed until Montmeló. "But I think everyone will bring improvements, especially with the new front wing regulations. We'll see how much it affects the grid." For the better, in his case and that of Aston Martin .

The track was evolving with the temperature changes, a result of the storm surrounding the Catalan track . Alonso dropped another half a second in Q2. Stroll was eliminated despite his two attempts , half a second behind the Spaniard, who easily made it through to Q3. Those first six qualifying rounds of the year were beginning to slip away, with the Miami nightmare a black hole for Aston Martin.

Upon reaching Q3, Alonso held on until the middle of the session. It seemed as though he would imitate his strategy of other occasions, waiting until the final minutes and taking advantage of the track's evolution. There was only one attempt. He nailed it with the 1.12.2. The track roared and saluted the crowd . It wasn't definitive, it wasn't real, but he had a great time in front of his own fans.

Alonso usually wears his emotions on his face, and Q3 at Montmeló was a testament to his skills. "We knew the track temperature could drop a bit in Q3, but we didn't know when exactly to go out, and we only had one set of tires," he later explained about his strategy. "Maybe we were a bit conservative in Q1 or Q2 by using two sets . But we're coming off a start to the year where we weren't competitive, and our confidence isn't high enough to save a set of tires."

Could he have gained more if he had waited a few minutes, given the final gaps to the cars ahead of him? There was still Hadjar or Gasly on his final lap. "I don't know, I don't think so. In the end, with Hadjar and Gasly, we were half a tenth up, half a tenth down throughout the entire qualifying session. In some sessions it favored me, I was seventh and they were tenth, and in others I was tenth and they were seventh. In Q3, the same thing happened. A tenth can change two or three positions, but we didn't have it ."

For Alonso, the result at Montmeló is a welcome change. "We were in the top ten in every session this weekend, and Barcelona was going to be a real test for us . At Imola, with the new aerodynamic package , we used the averages, and they worked in our favor. Monaco is too special a circuit to draw any conclusions," he explained about those tests, which were already shaping the evolution of the season.

" Here in Barcelona the truth was going to come out and the truth is that we have a car now, at least, to fight head-to-head with the midfield . We don't have much more, unfortunately, but at least we can be there, in the fight, in Q2 and Q3 and hopefully for the last few points each race. But we can't forget, as I say, where we come from. Two races ago, in Miami, we were the tenth car and finished 20 seconds behind Sauber and, in two or three races, we've turned that around. So I'm happy with how the weekend has gone so far."

The memory for the fans

Now comes the next test, but in the race. " There's going to be a lot of degradation. But we have the example of last year . We have the same tires as last year, it was two stops, so I expect something very similar. The Racing Bulls are ahead, with Gasly we have a similar pace and I think the Williams have more pace than us. They've had a bit of a strange weekend, but now we've seen in the time trial that when they get everything right they're already up there. Albon almost made it into Q3 and this Sunday he starts eleventh with a set of new tires that we don't have to make it into Q3, so they'll be tough rivals for points too ."

Alonso didn't want to forget the crowd cheering him on in Q3. "The fans always help, but on all the laps I do on Saturdays, even if they're not there, we always give our all. We try to do a good job. But it does help and it excites you, and you enjoy the weekend in a different way . They're always there through the good times and the bad. When things go well, you're happy for yourself, but for them too. When things go wrong, you're sad for yourself, for the team, but also for the fans. And the truth is, this year is the perfect example."

Who knows if the first points of 2025 will come in front of that crowd? There are real options. "We have zero points, we haven't taken a single point yet in the first eight races, and the circuit is packed. The circuit was packed on Friday, on Saturday too, and it's going to be packed this Sunday. There's not much to fight for, but they're still there, they're still showing their support , they're still hoping for some kind of positive surprise, and they still believe something special is going to happen. So, you have an obligation to at least try ."

"It's not as bad as it seems"

"I thought we were potential contenders to get into Q3 by putting everything together, but we didn't," explained Carlos Sainz. "It was a bit unfortunate that we were behind Franco Colapinto when he had the problem." Furthermore, there was no luck when we went out on track for the final attempt in Q1. " They put us in a bad position on the out lap and I had to pass five or six cars, with dirty air, and I probably overheated the tires as well."

Last year, both Williamses finished in the bottom two places . Something has also changed at Montmeló, which Sainz, however, failed to capitalize on. "It's a car (FW47) that we expected to struggle with here, but it went better. I think we were still fighting for Q2 and Q3," explained Sainz after the race. " It's not where we want to be, but it's not as bad as it looks . We only used two sets of cars, some used three. Maybe we should have been a little more careful with that."

Sainz also felt the support of the Spanish fans despite his final grid position . "It was incredible to feel their support. Even after coming back from Q1, all the kids were rooting for me. After a difficult day, I want to thank them. This Sunday, I'll try to make it up to them by giving them a good race."