- Bahrain Grand Prix - Qualifying
Engine issue hampers Alonso
Fernando Alonso believes an engine problem held him back in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix after progressively struggling to stay on the pace during the three sessions.
Alonso was tenth fastest but will start from ninth on the grid due to Daniel Ricciardo's ten-place grid penalty from Malaysia. He experienced a drop in power in Q3, but on Saturday night the team was still investigating the exact cause for the issue.
"It's sad that a problem with the engine happened in qualifying because we ran in free practice without an issue and then in Q1 it was more or less okay, in Q2 we lost a little bit and in Q3 we lost even more," he said. "It was sad in a way but this is motor racing and we just need to think that we didn't miss the possibility of pole position because we were not in that position, we just missed a couple of places that hopefully we can recover at the start."
Alonso is confident he can move forward from his starting position during Sunday's race.
"We start on the clean side with Ricciardo's penalty in ninth, so we will try to help with the start and the strategy and attack the race. Today didn't work as we planned and there is plenty of time to recover and we need to do a good race."
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