Alonso braced for “tough race at the back” after lack of grip in F1 qualifying

It was another disappointing qualifying display for the two-time world champion as he was beaten by Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon yet again on a Saturday.

Alonso could only manage 17th on the grid in Monaco, while Ocon will start from 11th on the grid.

It was the fourth race in a row that Alonso has been out-qualified by his teammate as he continues to struggle on his return to F1 after two years away.

Assessing his performance in the principality, Alonso said: “Not great. Obviously in Monaco you will love to start further at the front but we are struggling a little bit with the pace this weekend, unfortunately. We will face a tough race at the back. Difficult to invent anything on the strategy or anything so… ready for a long day tomorrow.”

The Spaniard looked to be the lead Alpine driver this weekend, leading Ocon in each practice session in the run-up to qualifying.

“It was a good weekend until qualifying in terms of inside of the team, how I felt,” Alonso added. “I was more competitive in FP1, FP2 and FP3. Qualifying, I think the tyres were not the easiest way to put temperature in and both attempts were a little bit affected by out laps and things. This is part of the game and it was the same for everybody.

“We didn’t manage to go through that session. We keep the lessons onboard and get ready for the next opportunity.”

While Alonso was happy with the general balance of his Alpine car, a simple lack of grip was the French team’s main issue in Monaco this weekend.

“Overall grip,” Alonso explained. “Grip in general. It was the thing that we miss. It was not a problem with the balance or a problem of anything wrong on the car. It was just that the level of grip was very low in all the sessions for both cars.

“In Portugal, we were quite competitive, in Barcelona as well, and we thought that Monaco was a good weekend. It was not good, probably the tyres as I said are one of the biggest factors in terms of level of grip or switching on the tyres and it can make that big difference.

“Some teams, they were much more competitive here than any other race before. Some other teams, they were very uncompetitive here compared to previous weekends like Alpine. We need to analyse further but we need to do better for next time.”