Fernando Alonso bemoans Australian GP misfortune that may have cost him pole

Fernando Alonso has offered his thoughts on qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, with a technical fault costing him a potential shot at pole position.

The Spaniard has been looking fast all weekend long in Melbourne, with the Alpine car looking particularly strong in the new sector two section which is now all about high speed and power.

Indeed, in Q3 Fernando had set a purple sector time for that part of the track, meaning he was the quickest of all through there at the time, and he looked as though he might take provisional pole.

However, an issue four corners from home, believed to be with the hydraulics, sent him wide into the gravel and then the wall, ruining his run and ending his session in the process as he could not downshift or steer the car.

It was such a shame as Fernando really was on it and looked firmly in the mix to be in the sharp end, and he could not hide his disappointment speaking to Sky post-session:

“I think it’s the hydraulics because I could not change gear and the steering became very, very heavy so I guess we lost the power steering and things like that.

“I don’t know if we could have fought for pole position because that’s a big thing but for sure top three, I think that lap was enough for top three and we had two new sets of tyres because we saved them in Q1 and Q2 so it is so frustrating.”

Fernando Alonso goes flying into the barriers after setting a purple middle sector!