BARCELONA, June 4 — Two-time champion Fernando Alonso was apologetic yesterday after qualifying ninth for Aston Martin for his home Spanish Grand Prix today.

The 41-year-old Spaniard went off in session one into a gravel trap and damaged his car, a setback that affected him for the rest of the qualifying hour.

"It wasn’t my best day,” he admitted. "And I am sorry for the team and for the fans, but tomorrow is the race and we will give it all we’ve got.”

Team-mate Lance Stroll ended his recent struggles by qualifying sixth, the first time he has out-qualified Alonso this season.

"The damage was a couple of tenths, no more than that,” said Alonso, who harbours hopes of claiming a sixth podium finish of the season in his home event.

"And the guys did a good job trying to repair it every time we went to the garage.

"My last lap in Q3 was quite competitive, but I went on to the damp part in Turn 10 so it was not my best Saturday....

"And maybe a podium is too far away, starting in P9, but the top five is something we should target. We have good pace and good degradation.

"So, let’s see. With the new layout of the circuit — let’s see what we can do.

Stroll said his session was "fun” adding that qualifying at the Circuit de Catalunya "is always exciting”.

"I think it’s going to be a tough race tomorrow,” he said. "With a lot of tyre management. I think it’s going to be about strategy.”

He added that the session had shown how competitive it was between the teams.

"It’s almost a little frustrating to say that in qualifying we are only a couple of tenths from second — it’s so tight between all the cars.” — AFP