SAO PAULO -- Fernando Alonso said he was briefly dreaming of giving Aston Martin a top-five qualifying finish in Brazil as the rain was at its heaviest on Saturday.

Alonso was given a chance to show his talent when the Interlagos circuit was hit by a heavy rainstorm, weather which always levels out discrepancies in car performance.

The two-time world champion progressed through Q1 and Q2 when the rain was at its heaviest, taking Aston Martin into Q3 for the first time this year.

He was ninth by the end of Q3, which took place on intermediate wet tyres as the rain eased up.

"I think P6 is 1.8 seconds in front of me," Alonso said after the session. "So, yeah, it's way too much in front to really dream about any higher position."

Asked if he felt a big result was possible when the rain was at its most intense, he said: "I was thinking maybe, it depends on the rain intensity, but I was thinking maybe top five was possible."

He admitted he did not get the best out of either Q3 run but did not think a clean lap would have made much difference.

"The tyres had no grip in lap one," he said. "So, I said, 'OK, I will push in lap two.' In lap two, because the energy modes, they already spent a lot of energy on the lap one. I didn't have the full energy in lap two. So, at the end, I ended up in no man's land.

"So lap one was not optimised for the tyres, lap two not for the engine. And I think it was maybe half a second or eight tenths on performance to unlock in Q3. But when I saw the times now, that will only offer me one position.

"I think the top six guys were in an unreachable planet today."

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Rain is forecast for much of Sunday -- the race begins at 2 p.m. local time.

Alonso expects a challenging race either way but said the rain will make it a more competitive afternoon.

"If it rains, yes, maybe a little bit higher chance," he added. "I think it's going to be very difficult. Fast cars start behind. But, yeah, between the low visibility and the tricky race, always wet conditions will offer us a bit better chance to score points.

"I think in dry conditions, there is no way. We were, I think, P18 this morning in FP3. So, we are struggling a little bit more than expected here. Maybe wet conditions will help us."