Alpine F1 Team's Fernando Alonso qualified in ninth place for tomorrow's BWT Styrian Grand Prix with team-mate Esteban Ocon in seventeenth after a mixed qualifying session in Spielberg.

Fernando made it to Q3 for the fifth time this season and also three top ten appearances in a row, adding to his efforts in Azerbaijan and France.

Esteban exited Q1 for the first time since Bahrain after a disappointing session.

In the first segment of Qualifying, Esteban was fourteenth on his first run, with Fernando inside the top ten in eighth place. On his second effort, Esteban improved but his lap-time was not enough to progress, and he was knocked out from qualifying in seventeenth place.

Fernando remained on Softs for Q2 with his first run good enough for eighth. On his second lap, the Spaniard improved, and he was comfortably through to Q3 in seventh.

For Q3, Fernando attempted an initial run on used Softs and found additional lap-time on his second push lap, meaning he will line-up in eighth* for tomorrow's 71-lap race.

Esteban Ocon: "We're not happy with today and exiting qualifying in Q1 is not where we should be. We need to regroup, keep analysing and see what's going on to improve our performance as it was not enough today. It's been a difficult weekend so far, but we gave it our maximum on both push laps. The lap-time just wasn't there and that's something we need to understand. We race tomorrow and we will give it our best and see what we can do."

Fernando Alonso: "It was a stressful qualifying with no room for mistakes, thanks to the close gaps and track limits at the last two corners. There is always room to improve but I am very happy with getting into the top ten again and finishing ninth. It gives us the possibility to score some good points tomorrow. Our forecast suggests it might rain so it is a little bit unknown heading into the race, but we are ready for whatever conditions."

Davide Brivio, Racing Director: "Fernando did a good job and we achieved our target of getting into Q3. He also seemed to enjoy qualifying, particularly in Q2 when he put together a very strong lap. Unfortunately, we couldn't use this potential with Esteban, and we need to analyse and understand the information to get in better shape for tomorrow. We need to take every opportunity in the race with both cars; the weather could be changeable, and the field is so tight that there is every hope of a good finish."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Spielberg, here.