McLaren Honda
Fernando Alonso says McLaren is performing "better than expected" at the Canadian Grand Prix as he progressed through to Q3 for the third successive race weekend.
Honda brought a new turbocharger to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Alonso was able to use the improvements to make it through into the top 10 shootout.
Team-mate Jenson Button locked up into L'Epingle on his final flying lap in Q2 and will start from 12th place.
"That was a nice surprise today – we’ll take it," Alonso said.
"I was definitely happy with that session – it can be a tricky circuit in these mixed conditions, and tomorrow will be tougher for us, but there’s potentially wet weather forecast for tomorrow, and maybe a bit of rain would help us.
"I’m very happy – we’ve done an amazing job with this car in the past 12 months and we’re now in a position that’s perhaps better even than we’d expected.
"So I have to say thanks to everyone in the team: we were only four-tenths behind Ferrari in Q2, and that should boost the belief and motivation of everyone in the McLaren and Honda factories.
"We’re ready to attack: we’re not fighting for the world championship, so we have nothing to lose. Definitely, it’ll be maximum attack tomorrow."
