The two-time world champion was agonisingly denied a first pole position since the 2012 German Grand Prix by Red Bull’s Verstappen, who snatched his maiden Monte C♛aꦯrlo pole by just 0.084s with a last-gasp effort at the end of a breathtaking Q3. 

Alonso will join Verstappen on the front row for Sunday’s grand prix but conceded he will require a slice 𓃲of fortune if he is to claim a l💖ong-awaited 33rd career victory. 

“We have to execute the race calmly, try to put everything in place, have a good strategy, a good start and no mistakes from anybody on the team, myself, and let’s see the final result,” 🍌Alonso said. 

“To win the race we will need some help from Mไax. Maybe he’s unlucky with the Safety Car or a bad pit stop from Red Bull. 

“I know they are the best with pi🍸tstops but maybe one race they can have a🐲 mistake. Those kind of things will give us an opportunity. 

“On a normal race I think it’s going to be very diffi🐟cult.”

Verstappen said he would "like to see Fernando win but would also like to see myself win" during a humorous back-and-forth between the pair in the post-quali🐼fying press conference. 

Alonso admitted he took an “uncomfortable” 🐻amount of risks in his attempts to claim his first pole in ov﷽er a decade. 

"We were increasing the level to an un൲comfortable level of risk, let's say," the Spaniard explained. 

"I think both laps in Q3 were a little bit over the limit sometimes, but everything went fine. The last sector seems♑ ou🦄r weakest part of the circuit.

"We w๊ere, I think, eighth quickest in the last sector. So there is something going on there that we need to analyse a little bit. Maybe going Singapore or whatever is the next opportunity [to address] that."