Fernando Alonso is hoping to secure his first finish and first points of the 2017 season, after claiming a remarkable seventh place on the grid for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The local hero shocked everyone on Saturday, not only making Q3 but finishing at the front of the midfield battle, ahead of the two Force India's and the Williams of Felipe Massa.

Though 10th place in final practice had hinted at some decent raw pace in the McLaren, even the Spaniard admitted it was beyond his best expectations.

“I think yesterday we saw the car had some potential, the upgrades were working OK so I remained optimistic, maybe not as optimistic as seventh but I think it was a good day,” Alonso said somewhat understatedly.

“In a way, it is a surprise (to claim seventh), we qualified 13th as the highest this year so yesterday was very wrong from the beginning, so today being here in Q3 was a surprise.

“Happy for that, happy for the team, changing the power units every day basically, let’s enjoy and prepare for tomorrow, hopefully get some points!"

What made the result even more surprising was the difficulties the double world champion had on Friday, when his Honda engine failed after just two corners in the morning and he ran a reduced program in the afternoon as the repair ran a little long.

“It is one of those days where everything goes right and meets the expectations higher than anybody expected," Alonso conceded trying to explain the turnaround.

“I think we felt confident with the car, even yesterday, but we had strange sessions with the failure in FP1 and a short run in FP2 but we remained optimistic.

“Today we put everything together, we felt confident but the car was performing quite well and giving me the confidence that gained me these extra tenths.

“The support from the people in this place give me two or three tenths, so it was enough to be P7.”

Indeed, after achieving his best qualifying position since Hungary last year, the Spaniard does think he can not only finish his first race this year but stay in the top 10.

“They extended the DRS today! [But] It is a track that it is very difficult to follow so if we can keep this position I think points are a real possibility,” he concluded.