Everything went wrong today in Imola, says Alonso

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso had a tough day in Imola, crashing his AMR24 into the walls in final practice before getting knocked out in the first qualifying segment.

Fernando Alonso has had a difficult weekend so far in Imola. The two-time world champion looked quite pleased with his upgraded AMR24 on Friday, but today saw things turn bad for the Spaniard.

He crashed his Aston Martin into the walls in the final practice, and while the Silverstone-based outfit's mechanics were able to repair his car, a series of issues hindered him in the opening part of qualifying that saw the Spaniard end the session in last place.

Speaking of his tough day in Imola, Alonso said: “It was one of those days where everything went a bit wrong for us. It started with the heavy crash in FP3 and the mechanics did a great job in getting the car ready for Q1. We headed out for Qualifying a few minutes into the session and fueled to do all of Q1.

The best lap I managed was when the car was heavier with fuel and then we had to box for an issue at the end of the session just before my final attempt. The car felt quite good in Qualifying and I think there was some more pace in hand, so it was a shame we couldn’t improve my lap-time. It’s very difficult to overtake here and so it’s going to be a tough race, but we should be able to learn lots tomorrow.”

His team-mate Lance Stroll survived the first qualifying segment, but he ended Saturday's all-important session down in P13.

“It wasn’t the result we were hoping for today; it’s been a bit disappointing. We don’t have the pace we need at the moment, and the incredibly tight field highlights that. I felt like I put a good final lap in, but it just wasn’t enough to get us out of Q2. We’ve got work to do ahead of the race tomorrow," concluded the Canadian.

Expanding on his team's day in Imola, Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack said: “It has been a challenging day in Imola and we did not have the pace to compete for Q3. We have scored points in all the races so far this year and we will work hard to do the same tomorrow. Lance’s Qualifying session was straightforward with clean and tidy laps, but Fernando was on the back foot after his accident in final practice.

I want to recognise the huge effort of the team to repair Fernando’s car. It was a real race against the clock to be ready for Qualifying. Thank you to everybody involved. Now we focus our efforts on the race tomorrow.”