Fernando Alonso feels F1 should revisit a long-forgotten solution to help combat Monaco's age-old qualifying problem.
Alonso was knocked out of Q1 and will start 16th in his Aston Martin - pending penalties following various stewards' investigations - after encountering traffic on his crucial final lap in the 18-minute session.
The two-time F1 champion feels F1 should adopt the system in place in F2 and F3 for the principality circuit, and run two groups to ensure a clean lap is possible. It is a suggestion that has been aired previously but never adopted.
Asked by RacingNews365 about the possibility of reviving the idea, Alonso said: "That would be great. Monaco is so exciting, so thrilling that lap, so it would be nice to see everyone's lap live because we miss a lot of great moments, but it is the way it is.
"With Monaco, you can get lucky or unlucky. Last year I got lucky. I made some progress in Q1, Q2, and then in Q3 you are P2, and some of the big contenders were out in Q1 or Q2.
"This time it was us on the bad side of it [luck], and Checo [Sergio Perez] as well, he is P18. This is Monaco, you need to find your luck as well and we didn't do that."
Viewed by others:
Alonso reveals where lap time bled away
Alonso conceded that although his car was not good enough for pole position, he did feel he should have reached Q3 and be starting seventh or eighth on the grid.
"I found myself in the wrong place, wrong moment," assessed Alonso. "This is Monaco. It's difficult to get a clean lap.
"I think I lost three-tenths [of a second] out of [Turn] 11 with a car just in front of me, and then another two-tenths in the last corner with three cars parked there just starting the lap.
"No one to blame. They cannot vanish in the very last moment out of the last corner, so yeah, a little bit unlucky.
"But it was the same for everyone because if I take those five-tenths off my lap, I will will be P1 in Q1, but no one maximised the pace in Q1. It was do a 98 per cent lap and get through. We didn't manage it, it's a shame but nothing we can do now."
Most read
In this article
Join the conversation!