Fernando Alonso has described his Aston Martin as the ‘worst car and worst engine’ after qualifying last for the Barcelona GP.
The local favourite will be joined on the back row of the grid by teammate Lance Stroll after a difficult session for the Silverstone operation.
Fernando Alonso delivers Aston Martin ‘worst car and worst engine’ assessment
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Alonso headed into the weekend predicting a tough event, suggesting that his time in qualifying would be brief when speaking to the media on Thursday.
That proved to be the case with both Aston Martins falling at the first hurdle in the three-part qualifying hour, a second slower than Valtteri Bottas in the Cadillac in 20th.
“I came here knowing that we are the last, and we are the last,” Alonso told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media.
“No surprises there.”
While expectations were low heading into qualifying, Alonso pulled no punches when asked whether the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya exposed aerodynamic weaknesses in the AMR26.
“No, nothing exposed,” he said when asked by PlanetF1.com.
“We know that we have the worst car and the worst engine. We’ve been very clear in every race so far that we have to work.
“In the second part of the year arrives a new car on the aerodynamic side, arrives a new engine, and we have the hopes there.
“We repeat every weekend,” he added.
“We will arrive in Austria in two weeks, we will be last in qualifying.
“We know the weaknesses. We know that we have to work, and we are on it.”
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In Barcelona, that produced an inconsistent car that made it especially difficult to drive on the limit.
“I had huge rear locking, some push on the engine,” Alonso explained of his qualifying plight.
“Our engine and gearbox are a bit random, so maybe it was for both cars, or maybe not, but in my car, my case, I had a lot of rear locking under braking in some corners, and the opposite – a lot of push, like half throttle open – in some other braking.
“All in all, it was not easy to drive the car. It has been not easy the whole weekend.”
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Originally published by Planet F1 —
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