Alonso looking to end high on the podium.

July 23 (Andrés Rojas).- Ferrari and Fernando Alonso had a strange qualifying session. After leading the first practice and finished second and third in the last two respectively, the Spaniard could not finished better tan fourth.

Nevertheless, Alonso insists a podium finish is still his main target during Sunday's German Grand Prix, despite losing out to both Red Bull drivers and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in qualifying. The Spaniard ended the session just under four tenths of a second slower than pole-sitter Mark Webber this afternoon, enough for fourth place.

"We are neither surprised nor disappointed, quite the contrary in fact," Alonso explained after qualifying. "This grid is more or less what we could have expected, from what we had seen in free practice yesterday.

"We thought the Red Bulls would be three or four tenths faster than us and that was the case and then even Hamilton went very well, especially in the first sector and got in between us. I am happy with my lap and with the result and anyway, this year we have seen that we have always gone better in the race than in qualifying.

"Let’s see what the weather will do tomorrow, as rain is forecast. If it turned out to be dry, then we can claim to have a 25% chance of winning and a bit less if it rains, but only because so far, in the wet others have been better than us. Maybe tomorrow the situation could turn around, you never know.

"I am still aiming for the podium, but if the chance of a win comes along I won’t need to be asked twice. Also at this track, we have seen the updates we have introduced helping to improve our performance, race after race. Clearly, we must take a further step forward if we want to be up there with the best."