Alonso knows how to make it even more exciting: 'Red Bull must start last'

"I think so we cannot be 100% sure, we’ve been through problems every session, so I can’t say the system is proven ahead of tomorrow’s race," Alonso said in conversation with GPblog and others. "But it is the way it is, even with the DRS it seems very difficult to overtake when you are following cars. So maybe it’s not the key factor tomorrow even if it doesn’t work.."

In the sprint race, Alonso came back from P8 to P6, good for three points. Still, he notices that this weekend is a bit less of a turnaround at Aston Martin compared to the first three GP weekends. "This weekend we are underperforming a little bit, this morning being the best example. P8 and P9 [in the sprint shootout] is not good enough, we were a little bit concerned going into the race."

Alonso hopes for spot in top-five

In terms of speed, Alonso thus came along well and managed to gain two places. From sixth place, he hopes to make up places. "But in the race today I found that I am more optimistic, that after the sprint race, that car will be fast tomorrow. The car was fast today, we were at the pace of the Ferrari and the Mercedes. Tomorrow I start P6 instead of P8 so I have a chance to finish top five which would be ideal. If we can finish sixth on Saturday and top five on Sunday on a difficult weekend, that is good news."

Finally, the two-time world champion was asked how can the race in Baku be even more fun? "Red Bull to start in last" laughed Alonso.