Alonso’s F1 car in ‘total blackout’ on Austrian Grand Prix grid

When the net was cleared before the start, Alonso’s car was left on the net on its levers with tire blankets still attached, as the team frantically tried to solve a technical problem with the car.

But due to Grid leading another formation round due to Zhou Guanyu’s engine being turned off, purchase Alps More time, Alonso was unable to start from the parking lane because his car failed to ignite.

A frustrated Alonso explained that his car had a complete shutdown on the grid, the underlying cause yet to be diagnosed.

“Five minutes before the start we had a complete blackout in the car and couldn’t start the car,” Alonso said when asked about the problem from Motorsport.com.

“We tried to get an external battery on, but it didn’t work either, so there’s something bigger going on there and let’s try to fix it for tomorrow.

“Since they weren’t lined up in the starting grid, we tried to be prepared, but it didn’t work with the second battery either, like I said, there’s something bigger going on.”

Alonso will start Sunday’s main race from the back row and fears “the weekend is over” now because of the difficulty of his sprint.

“Yes, it’s over. Weekends in general, because as we’ve seen here, there are trains of cars and you can’t get through.

“It’s going to be frustrating with DRS trains and things like that. So we’re going to try to be creative with the strategy and try to get lucky maybe with safety cars or something.

“So let’s see, but I think it will be a very, very long race behind many cars.”

It’s the Spaniard’s latest setback after a string of retirements earlier in the season, with the 40-year-old insisting he drives at his best in 10 years.

After scoring a fifth best of the season at Silverstone, Alonso is currently 10th in the standings with 28 points, 14 points behind his teammate. Esteban Ocon.

“This year, I feel I’m probably at my top in terms of driving, thanks to the experience as well, maybe at the 2012 level and I have 20 points or something, so it’s unbelievable.

“Maybe we lost 70 points, I think 60 if we count all the retirements, bad luck and reliability, so it’s a very strange season.

“Although I am very proud of my work so far this year, I am driving to the best of my ability and then trying to work with a team as soon as possible.

“If we don’t get the points because all these reasons are obviously very frustrating but I would be even sadder if it was my faults.”