Alonso: a case of being at the wrong place at the wrong time

F1 Grand Prix, GP Monaco, Monte Carlo Circuit

Following a series of issues in Imola just a few days ago, Fernando Alonso endured another disaster in the qualifying session at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Alonso looked to be back to his best after a disappointing time in Imola, and went into qualifying full of confidence. However, the Spaniard encountered traffic on his critical hot lap in Q1 which saw him fail to progress into the rest of the session.

Although he gained two places with the disqualification of the two Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg, today's Monaco race is expected to be a tough one for the Spaniard as the challenging layout of the Monte Carlo circuit does not offer real overtaking opportunities.

“It was a case of wrong place and wrong moment today for me. This is Monaco and you need to find some luck here too! I lost quite a bit of lap time with the traffic in Q1 and there is nobody to blame as we can't expect the traffic to vanish.

"Heading into Qualifying, we were thinking Q3 looked possible. It will be a tough day tomorrow, but we will take any opportunities that come our way," commented Alonso.

His team-mate Lance Stroll made it out of Q1, but his progress ended in the next qualifying segment. The Canadian driver will line up 13th on the grid after gaining a place with Hulkenberg's disqualification.

“I think more was possible today. I put in some strong lap times to progress through to Q1, but then hit some traffic during my final flying lap in Q2. That cost us a couple of tenths.

"It's especially tough to pass here, so I expect we'll have a difficult day tomorrow, but we'll still be looking to fight for points.”

Speaking of the tough day for Aston Martin, team boss Mike Krack added: “It has been a really tough day in Monaco and disappointing for our fans, the drivers and all of the team. There are no excuses, we simply did not have a race car capable of reaching the top ten today.

"The margins are very small, and we were on the wrong side of them. We now face an uphill battle to score points from P14 and P16, but we will do what we can to capitalise on any opportunities that might materialise in the long race tomorrow. Going forward we need to bring more performance to the AMR24," said Krack.