Home favourite Alonso handed pit lane start after strategic change

Alonso is set to start from the pit lane today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Aston Martin has decided to change various components of his Honda power unit after qualifying, where he finished 22nd, also behind Lance Stroll. It is the first time he has been outqualified by his teammate since last year's Chinese Grand Prix Sprint.

The Spaniard receives a new MGU-K, a new Energy Store, a new control electronics unit, and a new power unit ancillary component. The matter was referred to the stewards, who will then hand out a pit lane start to the former two-time world champion.

Speaking to GPblog, among others, after yesterday's session, Alonso explained: "I came here knowing that we are the last and we are the last, so no surprises there. Everybody I think has no surprises today. I had a huge rear lock and some push on the engine. Our engine and gearbox are a little bit random. So maybe it was for both cars or maybe not. But in my case, for sure, I had a lot of rear locking under braking in some portions, and the opposite, a lot of push, like half throttle open in some other braking zones. So all in all, it was not easy to drive the car. It has not been easy the whole weekend."

He added: "We knew that we have the worst car and the worst engine. And we've been very clear in every race so far that we have to work. In the second part of the year arrives a new car on the aerodynamic side, arrives a new engine, and we have the hopes there. We opted for this strategy. We repeat every weekend, and we will arrive in Austria in two weeks. We will be last in qualifying, and you will tell me if that exposes some of the weaknesses of the car. We know the weaknesses, we know that we have to work, and we are on it."