“I thought we had second left and there were about 20”, admits Asturian after a radio conversation with his track engineer.

Many lay in the sun for six hours, wrapped in banners of hope, cheered by the presence of Fernando Alonsoshortly before noon, for pit lane, others vibrated with the victory of David Vidales In F3, with the bar of the song and with fast laps of carlos sanzo, was greeted with cheers from Turn 5 to the main grandstand. Yesterday was a big day for F1 in Montmel, but it ended badly. Especially for the two-time world champion.

For the first time in 10 races, Alonso was eliminated in the first qualifying round, so today he will start from seventeenth, just before lance walk And two Williams. The situation is dire, the most worrying thing is that it accepts multiple interpretations. “There was a misunderstanding,” Asturian admitted, after failing to make his last attempt to improve. “We were on the deadline and I didn’t even know the team. I thought we had a second left and were like 20”, he admitted of the conversation. Karel LoosYour track engineer.

Driven by the crowd, believing that he would not cross the finish line in time to start his flying lap, Alonso overtook several cars before meeting. lando norris, At that crucial moment, McLaren’s plug proved fatal. “If I had known earlier, I would have made more space with Lando, but he told me over the radio: ‘It’s very, very tight and you have to launch now,’ explained the Spaniard. As much as the race director noted incident, it was not now there was an investigation by the steward.

“We lacked a bit of rhythm”

However, this tangle of events is not enough to explain the defeat. And the first to admit it was Alonso himself, who had bad feelings at the wheel since noon. Twelfth place in the last free season showed that the rear wing update, the main innovation for Barcelona, ​​did not offer the expected result. “We had a somewhat new piece, although this weekend it was my partner’s turn to test it out. It was noticed that we lacked a bit of rhythm”, he admitted. If evidence is lacking, simply mention that Stephen Ocon Entered the second quarter by a margin of 74 thousandths.

With this scenario, the environment in motor home Alpine is summarized in the long faces of tomorrow Otmar Szafnauer, Pat fry You Alan Perman, the highest technical manager of the project. and also Marcin Budkowski, who wanted to go to Barcelona to greet his former teammates, seemed impressed. The old aspirations of finishing third in the World Cup seem like smoke. Not only because of Mercedes’ step forward, but also because of the apparent incompetence against opponents such as Haas or Alfa Romeo. The American team, the only team on the grid that hasn’t brought an update, has kept its two single-seaters in Q3. Meanwhile, Alonso completed his worst classification yesterday at Montmel since 2001, the year of his debut with Minardi.

Sainz wants to overtake at the start

National honors, at least, were saved thanks to Sainz, who started in third place today, behind Charles Leclerc You Max Verstappen, “Anything can happen and we will do everything possible not to overtake at the start,” predicted the Ferrari driver in the DAZN microphone. An unfavorable 0-6 in the qualifying session did not discourage Madrid, who are four tenths slower than their garage partner yesterday. He knows his qualities in the long run and will be the first to put Red Bull in trouble while looking for a fourth podium in six races.

Of course one should not rule out Verstappen just yet, as was already evident in Imola and Miami. Tire management seems favorable to Red Bull, whose top speed still seems to be higher on the two Montmel Straits. Any strategic detail can shorten the race, so we have to stay calm. Nothing should be left to chance under the scorching heat of Montmel.