Fernando Alonso is still searching for his first points of the season after being hit with another reliability issue during the Monaco Grand Prix.
Alonso trailed McLaren team-mate Jenson Button for the first half of the race as the pair looked set for a double points finish. However, the Spaniard's race ended on lap 41 when he pulled off at Sainte Devote with what McLaren described as overheating issues.
"I think it was a gearbox problem," said Alonso, who had a costly electrical issue during qualifying on Saturday. "The car start to upshift really strange in the last lap, on the first corner I had no braking, the car stay in neutral and I could not fit any gear in, we need to make sure if it's the gearbox physically or it's just a sensor or something that makes crazy the gearbox.
"Both cars we were eighth and ninth so first points for us but unfortunately we missed the opportunity. Obviously from Barcelona [testing] I didn't finish any single session. And talking to everyone while the cars are running is not a good feeling. Hopefully we can it improve that next time."
Alonso served a five-second penalty at his pit stop after making contact with Nico Hulkenberg through Mirabeau on lap one. Though it had no bearing on his race at the time Alonso questioned the logic of the decision.
"No, of course not." Alonso said when asked if he thought the penalty was fair. "In that moment I don't know what I can do, I'm in the inside of Turn 5, he's on the outside, little bit optimistic, but we made contact, which in Monte Carlo maybe could happen, because two cars are difficult to pass in one corner so probably no penalty for cars would be the normal thing but you know the season sometimes random. But it's doesn't matter what I think, it's what they decide. For me it didn't change anything to me, I stopped P9 to the tyre change, and I exit P9 and so it was not any consequence. For sure it was a very strange penalty. "