Fernando Alonso described the Canadian Grand Prix as “sad” and “frustrating” after being forced to retire for the second race in a row with a reliability issue.
The Spaniard celebrated his 300th grand prix weekend at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and enjoyed the start of the race as he made his way through the field to run as high as tenth after his McLaren F1 Team car struggled in qualifying before his race was cut short.
“The race was fun at the beginning, especially after the restart, when we overtook three cars in two corners,” said Alonso. “Sergio [Perez] was on the grass sideways and came back onto the track, so it was difficult to anticipate what line he would have taken.
“Then halfway through the race, I felt a loss of power and was told to retire.”
Alonso qualified fourteenth and admits the McLaren package was not competitive in Canada and more performance is required without hindering reliability, something that has caused Alonso problems in the past two races.
“It’s sad, frustrating and I’m disappointed with this result,” said the Spaniard. “We weren’t competitive this weekend. We need to find more performance in the car and a way to become competitive.
“Reliability is also important, as we saw at the beginning of the year how many points we scored and how many we’ve lost now in the last two races, by retiring today and retiring in Monaco when we were running in seventh position.
“There are a few areas of the car that we need to keep working on and improving, and we’ll see what happens in the next couple of months.”
The Spanish driver heads off to France take part in the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans before the French Grand Prix in two weeks time and is looking forward to the different challenge.
“I’m flying tonight to France, as tomorrow I need to be in Le Mans,” said Alonso. “It will be a busy Monday and a new experience, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.”
