Alonso plays down poor qualifying

World championship challenger Fernando Alonso has played down his poor performance in qualifying today in Belgium, after the Spaniard finished just tenth in Q3 ahead of tomorrow afternoon's Grand Prix. Alonso was caught out by the weather more than most and was unable to set a quick enough laptime to challenge the frontrunners when the rain arrived just at the wrong time as he began his final flying lap.

With a 20-point deficit to championship leader Mark Webber, Alonso is under pressure to score another big points haul this weekend, but remains optimistic that the unpredictable Belgian weather will help him in tomorrow's race.