Alonso frustrated to waste 'sublime' Austin performance

Fernando Alonso says he couldn't believe his luck after what he described as a "sublime" performance during the United States Grand Prix was ended by a power unit problem.

Starting from eighth on the grid after reaching Q3, Alonso was fighting with Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz for sixth place in the first half of the race before being forced to retire with a power unit issue. Having last finished in the top 10 in Hungary, Alonso has retired from four of the last six races and says he should have more points to show for McLaren's recent displays.

"As I said before, between the lost opportunity in Singapore, the engine issue in Malaysia, the grid penalty in Suzuka that made me start last and the retirement [on Sunday] that cost us six points, then we'll have to change engine for Mexico and start last, the reality is that we lost between 25 and 30 points," Alonso said.

"But I'm very happy with my own weekend – our level this weekend was sublime, both in qualifying and the race and I think the last few weekends too. The championship position doesn't reflect that, but for me it doesn't change anything being 12th or 17th; by merit we should be much further up.

"I don't know what the issue was, I felt a loss of power and I don't know if I could get to the end of the race. In the end we couldn't, the engine is broken and now we'll have to get a new unit for Mexico and get a penalty, to get to Brazil and Abu Dhabi with a fresh engine. It will be another race we'll have to start last and it will be very difficult to score points.

Related Stories

"Obviously all eyes are now set on 2018 but I'd like to score as many points as possible in the three races that remain to improve the team's position in the championship. But we'll start last in one of them, so let's hope we can score some points in the others."

Having been fighting with a Renault and Force India, Alonso admits he was pleasantly surprised by how competitive McLaren was before his retirement.

"The start was like a rocket! I immediately passed Carlos and nearly got Ocon, but then the rest of the first lap was spent protecting my position. After that the positions were bit more stabilized and I think we could have easily scored points. It was a weekend where we were more competitive than expected, that's the positive bit, but it was a shame we couldn't score points.

"I felt the engine was losing power and I couldn't believe it. In Suzuka I started last, ran in 15th or 16th place and nothing happened, the engine ran perfectly; here I was seventh and the engine failed, so I couldn't believe my luck..."