SPIELBERG (AUSTRIA) - Frustrated Fernando Alonso on Saturday blamed his McLaren Honda team for a ‘primary school mistake’ that prevented him progressing beyond Q2 in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
McLaren Honda's Fernando Alonso in action during a qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, on July 2, 2016
The two-time world champion was sent out on used tyres and ended up 14th on the grid, out-qualified by his McLaren team-mate Briton Jenson Button, who was fifth.
“I don't think we had the pace to be in Q3, but we probably did something wrong," said the Spaniard who was champion in 2005 and 2006.
“We had a rain prediction so we tried to go out early in Q2 with new tyres, the only new ones that I had left, but for some reason my car was not fitted with the new ones… It was the Q1 tyres."
"So I did a first try just for the sake of it and then when I put the new tyres there was a yellow flag. The biggest mistake was not to put the new tyres like everybody else did," he claimed.
“When they took off the warmers, we suddenly had used tyres on, which was a surprise, but there was no turning back.
"It's frustrating. We are already not too quick. We are not in a very good position and if on top of that we make those primary school mistakes -- it's frustrating," said the 34-year-old.
Asked by reporters how he felt about the race, Alonso said: "If we put on new tyres to start the race, it will go better.."