Alonso: "Rain during the race makes things more exciting"

Aston Martin has arrived at the British Grand Prix weekend with a handful of new pieces.

Fernando Alonso finished seventh and Lance Stroll 17th in qualifying on Saturday after the team tested these components in practice sessions.

The two-time world champion said the team had taken a step in the right direction with these small improvements.

"We tested the updates yesterday and it turned out that the new package gave a slight advantage, but the difference is very small. That's why it took time to analyse the data," Alonso said.

"It's a small step in the right direction. We didn't say we're going to use the update for sure, but with the updates that everyone brought here, it's like everyone is getting closer."

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin Racing

Photo: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images

"It wasn't as easy as you think to make it to Q3. Especially in the last minutes of FP3, we couldn't make the soft tyre move because of the red flag. So we went into qualifying with a bit of uncertainty in terms of the set-up, the front wing etc. because we couldn't collect any data with the soft tyre this morning.

"But overall, we managed the process well in qualifying. We'll see what we can do tomorrow," he said.

When asked about his expectations for the race, Alonso replied: "It will be a long race tomorrow. We should not underestimate the difficulties that will come our way. But yesterday the car was good in the long runs. The tyres felt good too, so I have no concerns about that. Let's see if we can score points."

"I think I would have liked it to rain in the race. A few drops in the middle of the race would have made things more exciting. Because in a dry and normal race we would have been eighth, nineth or tenth at best. But with a little bit of rain you could be in the top five or 15th. It's worth taking the risk right now. We have nothing to lose."