Fernando Alonso has disclosed an “unknown problem” with his Aston Martin Formula 1 car cut short his participation in qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Alonso crashed in the final practice session when he lost the rear into Rivazza 2 and span side-on into the barrier, placing his involvement in qualifying in initial doubt.
But while Aston Martin repaired his AMR24 car in time for Q1, Alonso carried too much speed in Turn 3 on his second attempt and trailed through the gravel at Turn 4.
The Spaniard returned to the pit lane but did not venture back out onto the track to undergo a final effort, leaving him with the slowest lap time across the entire field.
Alonso, who was promoted to 19th place as Logan Sargeant’s lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, has revealed he was told to box due to an unspecified issue.
“One of those days that everything went wrong,” Alonso rued. “Starting on FP3 with a crash, quite heavy. The mechanics did a good job to make everything ready for Q1.
“And then in Q1, a combination of things to be honest. We started with fuel for the whole session, just to give me a little bit of laps and practice.
“I set the lap time at the very beginning when the car was heavy on fuel.
“And then when the car was light at the end and we put the last set of tyres, I had to box for an unknown problem.
“They called me [to] box, so it was quite painful. I asked a few times if for sure you want to box now.
“I’m sorry for the mechanics because they deserve to be better after the job that they have done. But one of those days that everything goes in the wrong place.”
Aston Martin has introduced a comprehensive upgrade package this weekend, but team-mate Lance Stroll was unable to extract the pace needed to advance into Q2.
However, Alonso is adamant the Silverstone-based squad’s developments have delivered a better step than his or Stroll’s positions on the starting grid have indicated.
“The car felt a little bit faster this morning compared to yesterday before the crash,” Alonso assessed. “And now into qualifying the car also felt good.
“As I said, that lap is the first lap of the day for me on Soft tyres and heavy on fuel. So, I think there is a little bit of pace in hand.
“But yeah, the upgrades, I think the team is the one to analyse it and to comment on it. I think we have a lot of data from yesterday, especially FP1.
“Lance was with the old package, FP2 with the new package. So, plenty to go through and get better and more prepared for Monaco. I think Monaco is going to be tough.”
With Imola having carved a reputation as being a tough track to overtake on, the two-time champion has conceded that he is anticipating a challenging race tomorrow.
“Let’s see. I think Imola is one of the worst places to start at the back,” he continued. “The second most difficult circuit to overtake is behind Monaco.
“Singapore ranks easier than Monaco to overtake, so that tells everything. It’s going to be a tough race, but we should be able to learn something about the package.”
Asked whether it would be worthwhile to take a pit lane start and the chance to make set-up tweaks, Alonso hinted that it could be an option on his side of the garage.
“Maybe,” he responded. “I don’t know the car. As I said, I have to box now, so I’m not sure what the car has exactly. We start from the pit, there is also some benefits as well.
“We saw the crash in F2 at the start as well. We need to avoid those kinds of things for the quantity of parts that we have, all Formula 1 teams, so it could be an option.
“Points, I think, are a little bit unrealistic tomorrow.”
