McLaren: Alonso achieves his best qualifying of the season
Fernando Alonso is the only McLaren driver to have reached Q3 this afternoon, achieving his best qualifying of the year in the process. Only 12th, Stoffel Vandoorne is counting on the race and the good overall pace of his car to shine.
On a circuit demanding less engine power, McLaren was not far from placing both its cars in the Top 10 of the qualifying.
If Stoffel Vandoorne missed the 12th place by a few tenths, Fernando Alonso achieved his best qualifying of the season by securing a convincing 7th fastest time. The only McLaren in Q3, Fernando Alonso’s number 14 started from afar after difficult initial practice sessions.
But the Spaniard managed to turn things around with the help of his team to secure an interesting 7th place, which makes the double world champion confident for tomorrow’s race: “We had some tough moments, especially during FP1 and FP2. The car was poorly balanced, and I didn’t feel confident pushing it to the limit. We changed quite a few things for the qualifying. The team did a great job and solved many problems, so I felt much better in the car, and the pace was better. The 7th place here is a good thing, but we need to finish the job tomorrow in the race.”
Confident after the free practice sessions, Stoffel Vandoorne encountered some problems during qualifying that prevented him from joining his teammate in the Top 10.:« We had a good day. FP3 went well, I was happy with the car and confident for qualifying. But we encountered a problem before qualifying that we couldn’t fix, which is a shame, otherwise I could have fought to go faster. It made us miss an opportunity. »
“P7 is a good position to be in, the guys did a great job.” #MonacoGP pic.twitter.com/NXBpFr0L2B
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) 26 mai 2018
From our special correspondent in Monaco
