Alonso qualified fifth at Suzuka and eventually finished sixth, losing out to the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in the race
He managed to stay clear of the Mercedes of George Russell and the McLaren of Oscar Piastri in the closing laps of the race.
He believes that the Aston Martin AMR24 is the fifth fastest car at the moment, and thus he and the team is scoring better results than expected.
“Obviously not fully confident,” he said when asked if he thought he could keep Piastri and Russell at bay. “Because you never know what pace the others will do at the end of the race
“But yeah, I think it was my best weekend, I don't know, inside the top five, ever, for me. I think P5 yesterday in qualifying, that lap, and P6 today in the race is completely out of position. So yeah, very proud.”
Asked to elaborate on his claim he said: “Well, I think we are the fifth fastest team by a good margin to the fourth and good margin to the sixth. We are quite established there.
Source: Autosport