Putting his Alpine on the front row for the Canadian Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso vows to fight world champion, Max Verstappen from the outset.

In a qualifying session filled with shocks and surprises, two-time world champion Alonso saved the best for last.

Just as we settled back, Carlos Sainz having demoted Lewis Hamilton, Alonso emerged from the spray, crossing the line to claim the coveted spot on the front row beside pole-man Verstappen.

As the crowd roared its approval, the Spaniard grinned.

In Monaco and again in Baku, the wily old fox proved that he can make his pretty little car as wide as the best of them, as Hamilton and the McLaren pair will confirm, however, other than aiming to hold off any would be challengers for a podium place, the Spaniard has vowed to fight from the outset.

"It's a surprise for sure," said Alonso, who has been on the pace for much of the weekend. "Yesterday was fast, but we've found sometimes we have a very fast car on Fridays and not on Saturdays, so we were not really excited about the performance yesterday.

"But today after being, in FP3, P1, we were like, okay, so if it keeps raining for qualifying it could be a good Saturday and it was, so happy for this," he added.

Ever the realist, asked if he can expect to match Verstappen and Sainz for sheer pace, the Spaniard admitted: "They're in a different league for sure.

"It was not in our wildest dreams to be on pole position, so we take the first row for sure, and that's maybe better than any expectations."

However, the two-time champ, who has a reputation for gaining positions with his lightning starts has no intention of moving aside for his rivals.

"The goal is to lead the race in Lap 1, Turn 1, maximum attack," he vowed, "and then after that they can go and they can fight, but it would be nice, sweet, to lead the race.

"I'm not sure what the possibilities are, realistically," he admitted. "I would say top five is what we should fight for.

"We have a very good starting position, but we know our limitations and we saw in many races already that Ferrari or Red Bull are starting last or having a puncture in Lap 1 or whatever, they still finish with a good margin in front of us.

"So I think the top four places are locked. So fifth is like a win for us and that's probably the spot would should aim for."

Check out our Saturday gallery from Montreal here.