Alonso “not proud of qualifying today” after crash

Fernando Alonso apologised to Alpine for his crash in qualifying, acknowledging it will cost them money towards the budget cap.

“I braked late, I locked the tyres and unfortunately I didn’t make the corner,” Alonso explained afterwards.

“Obviously I have to apologise to the team because, apart from the positions that you could make, every mistake this year costs money for the cost cap,” he said. “So I’m not very proud of the qualifying today, but nevertheless, hopefully tomorrow I can do a better job.”

However Alonso, who will start tomorrow’s race from seventh place, was pleased with his qualifying effort up to that point.

“I think it was better today than yesterday,” he said. “In Q3 we had two new sets of tyres and the first attempt I was P5. So I was hoping on the second attempt to improve that.

“Even without my mistake it was a red flag anyway because of Checo and Carlos so P7 is what it is today.”

The weather forecasts for Sunday’s race remains uncertain, with a possibility of rain. Alonso says he would prefer it to stay dry.

“Being seventh and in the points already for us is a good position,” he said. “A dry, boring race will be preferred.

“But I think it’s going to rain and I think we can control if it rains. You can be on the podium or you can finish on the first lap against the wall because you are aquaplaning in one place and that’s it. So I think it’s a very random race, very chaotic. So we have to get ready for that.”

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2022 Monaco Grand Prix

• Whatever triggered it, Verstappen’s defiance of his own team makes little sense
• Transcript: How Red Bull seized a win that ‘Ferrari looked like they had in the bag’
• Verstappen now has as many poles as Leclerc – but six times as many wins
• Schumacher’s chassis-splitting crash shows effects of rising car weight – Alonso
• Norris still can’t drive McLaren the way he wants to, despite strong results