Fernando Alonso believes a DRS issue cost him valuable "tenths" during qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. His best time was only good enough for sixth on the grid for the Grand Prix on Sunday, 1.050s off the best time from Charles Leclerc. Given that Lewis Hamilton qualified in fifth and narrowly made it into Q3, while teammate George Russell dropped out in Q2, Alonso believes there was more pace to come from the Aston Martin. "We had some issues in FP1 and also in qualifying with the DRS which cost us few tenths," he told media. "Nevertheless it's only Friday, it's a long weekend ahead of us. Another qualifying tomorrow, another race, another race on Sunday. So plenty of opportunities to pick up a few places." Both Aston Martin's appeared to have problems, as Lance Stroll was also seen not being able to activate his DRS on the start/finish straight. A look at the data shows that Alonso lost crucial time in the DRS zones to Verstappen, despite being closely matched for the rest of the lap.
Aston Martin try to be more consistent than Ferrari
Alonso says he it is not surprising to see Leclerc take Pole Position, after Ferrari managed to qualify on the front row in Saudi Arabia before taking a grid penalty. "I think in Jeddah they were also in the first row, but Charles had to take the penalty after the Bahrain Power Unit penalty," he added. "They've been unlucky; with a penalty of Carlos as well, the DNF of Charles in Australia. So I think they are fast and they showed it today, but we'll try to be more consistent than them."
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