Aston Martin’s speed is an unknown factor going into qualifying after Alonso and team-mate Lance Stroll finished 12th and 14th respectively in final practice.

Alonso also barely scraped through in the first quarter, while Stroll was even knocked out in 18th. But in the second quarter, the two-time world champion emerged in third, within three-tenths of leader Max Verstappen.

The Spaniard then secured his second starting position alongside Red Bull’s pole-sitter Sergio Perez in the Q3 penalty shootout.

According to Alonso, his “chaotic FP3” was caused by setup experiments, but in the more familiar setup, his AMR23 “come to life” in qualifying.

“It was a good qualifying session, I think FP3 was a bit of a mess for us,” he explained.

“We tried different setups, none of which worked, but the team obviously put the car in a more well-known place after the first four races, and the car came alive in qualifying.

“So yeah, very happy with P2. Obviously, first row, let’s see what we can do.”

Top three in qualifying: Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin F1 Team, pole position Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing and Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

Photography: Mark Sutton

Qualifying at the resurfaced Miami International Speedway produced some surprise results, with Verstappen in ninth after making a mistake on his only timed lap.

Charles Leclerc’s crash then prevented anyone from setting another time as he raised the red flag when there was not enough time on the clock to restart the session.

That means his team-mate Sainz is locked in third, with Haas surprise Kevin Magnussen joining him in the second row.

But amid complaints about the low-grip track in Miami, Alonso said he “enjoyed every lap” of the challenging layout.

“I did enjoy every lap, it was a real pleasure to drive,” he said with a laugh. “Especially the low-speed corners here are quite tricky.

“You’re very close to the wall between turns 11 and 16, so you need to have confidence in the car to really attack qualifying. I was confident today, so I’m happy.

“It’s been tough all weekend. We’re clearing a very tight racing line and it’s getting really grippy, but off the line it’s getting really slippery.”