Fernando Alonso believes that splitting groups in Formula 1 qualifying at the Monaco Grand Prix would stop the traffic issues which contributed to his Q1 elimination.
Alonso’s weekend prospects have been hindered for the second consecutive round with a premature exit at the first stage leaving him to start the race down the order.
The Spaniard’s final run was good enough to move up to 13th, but improvements behind him meant that he dropped into the drop zone and will line up 16th tomorrow.
Alonso is convinced that he lost up to five-tenths when a rival impeded him at the Nouvelle chicane and then at Rascasse, which would have been enough to advance.
“Traffic, obviously we were not maybe the car to be on pole but enough to be P7, 8,” Alonso commented.
“I found myself wrong place wrong moment, this is Monaco, difficult to get a clean lap, but I lost three-tenths out of [Turn] 11 with a car just in front then another two-tenths in the last corner with three cars that were parked there just starting the lap, no one to blame, they cannot vanish at the very last moment, just unlucky today.”
Alonso admitted that the frustration with his elimination was amplified as he thinks he was on course to top the opening stage and still had more time in his locker.
“Yeah, it was the same for everyone as if I put those five-tenths into my lap I will be P1 in Q1, so I think no one maximised the pace in Q1,” he assessed.
“It was just do a 98% lap and get through, but we didn’t manage today, a shame, but nothing we can do.”
Alonso contends that a solution to the recurring problem in Monte Carlo is to adopt the method that Formula 2 and 3 use in separating qualifying into two segments.
“I think that would be great,” Alonso said when split groups were proposed to him.
“Monaco is so exciting and so thrilling that lap that it would be nice to see everyone’s lap live as we miss a lot of great moments but yeah it is the way it is.”
He added: “Yeah you can get lucky, unlucky. Last year I got lucky, made some progress in Q1 and Q2 and then in Q3 you are P2, maybe some of the big contenders were out of Q1, Q2.
“This time it was for us the bad side of it, and Checo as well is P18, yeah, this is Monaco, you need to find your luck as well and we didn’t today.”
The two-time champion has written off his hopes at recovering to the points places tomorrow, citing that his ambition is to escape the race without incurring damage.
Looking ahead to his prospects, Alonso stated: “Not crash, try to keep the car in one piece.
“In this part of the year we try to bring as many updates as possible so the stock of parts is not great, so we just need to try and finish the race and get to Canada a bit more prepared.”
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