McLaren seek answers after Q2 exit leaves Boullier 'astonished'

McLaren were left "astonished" by their lack of pace in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix after Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were eliminated from Q2. To make matters worse for the team the Honda-powered Toro Rossos both qualified ahead, with Pierre Gasly set to start Sunday's race from fifth.

Alonso and Vandoorne will start the race 13th and 14th respectively, although they salvaged a double points finish in Australia, despite failing to make Q3.

Alonso only just made it out of the first qualifying session, his time was exactly matched by 16th-placed Romain Grosjean, but the Haas was eliminated as he had set his time second.

It didn't get better for McLaren from there as they were dumped out in Q2, only to see Gasly deliver a superb performance with the much-maligned Honda engine.

"It was definitely not a great qualifying for us, it was a bad surprise," Alonso said. "We didn't expect to be that far back.

"Q1 was already difficult to go through and then Q2 we were 13th, 14th. Not the positions we wanted.

"We felt strong yesterday in the long run so we had some hopes for tomorrow's race. Now obviously the starting position is compromised but hopefully tomorrow we can improve the situation."

INITIAL CLASSIFICATION (END OF QUALIFYING): A first pole of 2018 for Sebastian Vettel #BahrainGP ???????? #F1 #Quali pic.twitter.com/sRcBUfFtnY — Formula 1 (@F1) April 7, 2018

Despite the disappointment, Alonso remains confident McLaren can impress come Sunday.

"It is very clear, we know our weakness, we know our strong points at the moment," he said. "Hopefully it's a matter of time, we bring the updates and we improve our weakness.

"We were not in Q3 also in Australia and both cars finished in the points so let's wait and see for tomorrow.

"We need to stay focused and hopefully take advantage in the strategy. We are not in Q3 so we can have a free choice of tyre, maybe that can help us."

Boullier was shocked by McLaren's lack of pace. The Renault-powered cars of Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jr all made Q3 comfortably.

"Obviously it's a bit of a surprise, based on the pace we had in FP3," Boullier told Sky Sports. "There is a need for a big investigation. We need to find out what's going on.

"The balance is fine, obviously there's a lack of grip, that's my conclusion for the poor performance, but they don't report anything wrong.

"But we need to find out why. We need to ask some questions at the factory.

"Like all of us on the pit wall, to be honest, I'm a bit astonished and we need to understand what happened."