Alonso took risks 'over the limit' to reach Q2

Fernando Alonso says he was risking being "over the limit" with how hard he pushed in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix to secure 13th place on the grid.

McLaren struggled during the final practice session on Saturday, with Alonso 17th and teammate Stoffel Vandoorne 19th, separated by Marcus Ericsson's Sauber. However, Alonso managed to finish the first part of qualifying in 10th place, securing a spot in Q2 and said he could not improve on his lap time having "pushed like an animal" over team radio.

Asked after qualifying about that comment, Alonso replied: "All the animals... an elephant!

"We really pushed the maximum. We felt very uncompetitive in FP3 so we went into Q1 with some pessimism in our targets. I did the lap flat-out in some corners, not caring too much in some corners, not caring too much about risking over the limit.

"Everything went well, I crossed the line and said, 'Wow, this lap is good!' We were P10 and it was good enough for Q2. P13 for us is a big surprise for us with the expectations we had in qualifying.

"We are not very competitive – we felt this morning that we would have a very difficult weekend ahead of us, we were 17th and 19th [having used] all the power available to us, etc. We thought that this circuit was quite difficult for us but in qualifying, surprise surprise, everything was better than expected and 13th is a good gift."

With the weather forecast suggesting Sunday will see a wet race in Shanghai, Alonso believes such conditions will provide an opportunity for him to move forward from his grid position.

"If it rains in the race as predicted there will be some chaos in the race, as with all wet races, and we need to take as many risks as possible because we are not in the points so we need to take advantage of all the circumstances.

"We were very close to a point in Australia. Tomorrow if it rains, especially, it opens up some possibility for us if there are any opportunities in front of us. Looking forward to a wet race – I think the spectators will enjoy. We will take any opportunity."