Alonso: Drop expected even without contact

Fernando Alonso reckons he would have lost seventh in the Spanish GP even without his Lap 1 contact as there would have come a time when it would be “impossible to defend or impossible to attack.”

Alonso was the star of the show in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix as he put his Honda-powered MCL32 up into seventh place on the grid.

His joy, though, was short-lived.

Alonso tussled with Felipe Massa on the opening lap with contact pushing him off the track. He fell from seventh to 11th.

The McLaren driver finished the race in 12th place and concedes that he would have dropped down the order even without his Lap 1 drama.

“The cars in front were making contact and I took a risk,” he said.

“Maybe I could have stayed behind but I had nothing to lose so I tried to go around the outside knowing that maybe he wouldn’t see me.

“But even without that I think that with our speed on the straights sooner or later you start to drop down.

“Your rivals prepare it little by little and at one point it’s impossible to defend or impossible to attack.”

He added: “In terms of race pace we knew we couldn’t match the cars in front and even if we had it we lost all our chances behind [Daniil] Kvyat after the pit stop.

“We can’t pass on the straight so we stayed behind him and from there the race was more complicated.”