McLaren Honda
Fernando Alonso believes McLaren had the capability to progress through to Q3 for the first time this season until Q2 was stopped due to a wheel detaching from Nico Hulkenberg's Force India.
Both Alonso and Jenson Button were preparing for their final flying laps in Q2 when Hulkenberg's left front tyre came loose, causing the session to be halted.
As there was insufficient time for the session to be restarted and for drivers to complete a lap, Q2 was abandoned, leaving Alonso in 12th, with Button 13th, and the pair were consequently eliminated from qualifying.
"[I'm] massively frustrated today, the car had potential to be in Q3, both McLarens were competitive," he said.
"We didn’t use new tyres, full engine power [in Q2], we were just waiting for that lap to be in Q3 and we didn’t even open the lap.
"[But the] positive [is] we were trying to pass Q1 a few races ago and now we are frustrated not to be in Q3 so we are growing in the right direction."
Alonso has not scored points since last year's Hungarian Grand Prix and he is hopeful of ending his drought on Sunday.
"Yesterday we were not completely happy with race pace, we made some changes so let’s see if we can score more points than we think," he concluded.
