Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: Lando Norris says he is ‘just not good enough’ in qualifying

The Spaniard’s showing was his team’s best of what has so far been a difficult year and it comes as a result of a major upgrade on the car that has – at least partly – been influenced by their new managing technical partner, Adrian Newey, the design legend who joined in March.

Alonso’s team-mate Lance Stroll qualified in eighth place.

“To be with both cars in Q3, it really lifts a little bit of pressure from the shoulders of everyone in the team,” Alonso said.

“The package that we introduced yesterday, we had some positive results, but you never know until you go to qualifying.

“We need to keep the feet on the ground, and maybe the track characteristics, it does help the Aston, so we’ll need to see in (the next races in) Monaco and Barcelona. But so far, happy with the improvement.”

However, the 43-year-old emphasised that while he was “happy to be fifth”, it was not close to his or the team’s ambitions.

“I want to be in Australia (at the start of the season) next year and win the race,” Alonso said.

“It’s going to be a tactical race. As always in Imola, it’s difficult to overtake. Less stops possible for everyone because then you cannot overtake on track.

“I expect to have a good start, good strategy, and let’s see the pace. I think it’s not as good as P5, so I’m ready to lose a couple of positions, but hopefully not too many.”

Piastri spoke about his determination to ensure he kept the lead at the start.

“As long as I can get a good start, then (I’m) confident,” he said. “It’s a difficult track to overtake on. Our pace has been strong. Our long-run pace yesterday looked very encouraging. So, yeah, as long as I can get a good start and have a good first lap, then that would be good.”

Verstappen, who said his car was better balanced than on Friday when he had struggled with race pace, said: “I’ll just try to do a good start and see where I’m at with the pace, because yesterday wasn’t particularly good in the long run also.

“And then, yeah, just see with the new set-up we have on the car. Hopefully it all sticks a bit better on the Tarmac and, hopefully, in general a bit more competitive.”