What went wrong at McLaren? 'Nothing' says Alonso!

A phlegmatic Fernando Alonso insists "nothing went wrong" for himself and McLaren following the team's mediocre performance in qualifying for the French Grand Prix.

Neither the Spaniard nor his team mate Stoffel Vandoorne made it through Q3 in the all-important session, Alonso failing to make the first segment cut for the first time this season.

Despite the disappointing performance - a clear anticlimax from his win at Le Mans a week ago - the McLaren driver pointed to the fact that he had once again outpaced his team mate, if that was any consolation.

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"Nothing went wrong," he insisted. "I think the performance is what it is. Two tenths in front of the most talented young driver, Stoffel. This is the place we are.

"This morning in the meeting we predicted to be between P14/P15, so this is where we are."

Alonso denied McLaren's performance was trending down in France compared to previous races.

"Our performance has usually been so-so on Saturdays, with our average position in qualifying so far this year being 13th.

"There was nothing wrong with the balance of the car today; our lap-time was just not quick enough to make it into Q2. We know where we are, and, unfortunately, need to keep improving…"

The two-time world champion is looking towards Sunday's race for an improvement of his fortunes, although he sees once again a boring procession ahead.

"Those on pole will be fastest, they will start first and run away, the second ones will start second and run away. The third ones will start third and will run away," he added.

"The weather could play the most important part. If it rains like this morning or if there's changing conditions it will probably be a more chaotic race.

"If it doesn't rain, it will be more complicated to overtake."

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