Fernando Alonso knew before qualifying began that engines penalties mean he would be relegated to the back of the grid for the Russian Grand Prix, but that did not stop him 'helping' McLaren teammate Stoffel Vandoorne try to get into Q2.
Speaking after qualifying 17th for the race at Sochi Autodrom on Sunday, Alonso told reporters, I didn’t attempt any performance run, just ran in a safe mode on the straights and tried to help Stoffel.”
“I had two missions: One to set a lap inside 107% and the second mission was to help Stoffel with the tow on the straights. I think we did both and obviously, a lot of the focus has been on the race pace this weekend. Hopefully tomorrow we see some nice results on the chequered flag.”
Ironically, Vandoorne despite Alonso's assistance was even slower, THE Belgian was 19th at the end of Q1 and almost half a second shy of the Spaniard.
Alonso added, “It was always going to be hard for us this weekend. I think this morning we saw that the pace of the car was not very good at all.”
“Going into the qualifying session the target was to try and be ahead of the Williamses. We managed to beat one today, I don’t know exactly what happens with all the penalties,” added the two times F1 World Champion.
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