Fernando Alonso claims McLaren can’t be surprised at finishing bottom of the timesheets in qualifying for the Japanese GP as their car is the same since the Spanish GP back in May.
The double world champion will start 18th, just one place ahead of teammate Stoffel Vandoorne as a crash for Marcus Ericsson at the Dunlop curve stopped the British team from locking out the back row.
Even the much-maligned Williams is enjoying more success at this stage in the season, with Lance Stroll making Q2 and Sergey Sirotkin only missing out by less than a tenth.
“I think it was the maximum today,” Alonso said. “This is the way it is. We’ve been slow all weekend so it was not a surprise that we were slow in qualifying.
“We have the same car from Spain more or less so we are dealing with what we have. When we arrive at races like Singapore or Hungary we score points because the circuits are a little bit more challenging but at this type of circuit, we will struggle.”
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One factor that won’t be around on Sunday is the rain which impacted qualifying at various points during qualifying, as a result, tyre wear and retirements ahead are the only things Alonso can hope for to help.
“We will still aim to take points because obviously, that’s important for the Constructors Championship. We will try to do our best,” he continued.
“It seems we don’t have the pace to be in the points so, it’s going to be tough but if there’s an opportunity we will take it.”