It was another predictable and disappointing qualifying session for McLaren, with both drivers missing the Q2 cut and still no light appearing at the endless tunnel on the performance front.
Fernando Alonso was a tenth of a second down on team mate Jenson Button at the end of Q1, but one must wonder of the importance of relative performance with such a poor level of achievement overall on the part of McLaren-Honda.
Unfortunately, the Spaniard's assessment of the failed result, which was largely anticipated by the team, sounded all too familiar.
"It's not the best situation the way it is at the moment, and we're not competitive at all" said once again the former triple World Champion.
"I know it all sounds a bit repetitive, and it's understandable that so many of the interviews we give sound negative. But this is our working process, we are not taking every weekend as an opportunity to look at the times and the position. We are taking it as a working weekend. We know that we're last, and it's a bit frustrating for everybody in the team but it's the period we need to go through together."
While Alonso admitted that the car's overall development was a work in progress, he unequivocally laid the blame on his Honda power unit whose weakness was once again brought to light at Monza with the McLaren suffering almost a three-second deficit over its fastest rivals
"There are many areas where we need to improve, but on a circuit with six corners we are losing two or three tenths through all those corners, and the rest of the three seconds you need to find on the straights. On the straights we're full throttle, and there isn't much we can do. There's a lot of power that is important, and on this type of circuit you notice it even more."
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