Alonso disappoints in front of home crowd

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso failed to impress at the Spanish Grand Prix as he claims that he was told to stay put behind teammate Jenson Button.

Starting in the top ten for the first time this year, Alonso lost his place after a poor start as Button managed to get ahead of him after the first lap.

It went from bad to worse for the two-time World Champion after he reported a loss of power on the team radios, which resulted in him retiring.

He also added that he was told by the team bosses to stay behind his British teammate.

“The start wasn’t too good and then I was behind my teammate all the race and that was it,” the 34-year-old told motorsport.com.

“I was quite a bit faster, but it is what it is.

“They decided that I had to stay behind and I stayed there.

“It was a complicated race and we weren’t really in a position to score points, so a bit disappointing for that, being at home and for not being able to show the pace we had.

“A bad start sentenced all my laps. I had a good start and then followed Jenson for 50 laps and this was the end of my race, probably at the first corner.

“In the end, I couldn’t go on and I had to retire, but we didn’t lose much.”