After having high hopes of a double top ten appearance in Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix, Alfa Romeo Racing struggled for pace throughout the session, with Kimi Räikkönen the best placed of the two drivers down in fourteenth position.
Räikkönen felt uncomfortable behind the wheel of his C38-Ferrari during the session, with the grip levels either being good at the front or the rear, but never both at the same time, which left him struggling for performance and eliminated in Q2.
“We were just not fast enough, it’s as simple as that,” admitted Räikkönen. “We managed to do our fastest lap of the weekend in qualifying, but the other cars improved a lot more than we did.
“We struggled with the balance of the car. When I had grip at the front, the rear went and when I sorted out the rear then I wasn’t comfortable with the front.”
Team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi was equally displeased with the session, particularly after being sixth fastest in the final practice session on Saturday morning. The Italian had gone into the session with high hopes of a second Q3 appearance of the year but was eliminated in Q2 as the slowest runner of the fifteen drivers in that session.
“I don’t really know what happened in qualifying,” said Giovinazzi. “We had showed our potential with P6 in FP3 and we didn’t change anything on the car. The grip just was not there and we don’t know why.
“It is really disappointing because we were very strong in all sessions and now we are P15. It is quite difficult to overtake around here but the weather can be unpredictable, so we will see.”
To make matters worse for Giovinazzi, the stewards at the Circuit de Monaco handed him a three-place grid penalty after the session for blocking, meaning he will start behind Charles Leclerc, Sergio Pérez and Lance Stroll down in eighteenth position.
