MARINA BAY, Singapore -- Fernando Alonso believes McLaren had an opportunity to score its first podium, and potentially win, of the Honda era without being caught up in the first-corner drama in Singapore.
The two-time world champion made a lightning start from seventh on the grid only to be collected by Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen -- who had both made contact with Sebastian Vettel -- as he was rounding Turn 1.
When asked if he could have scored a top three finish without the contact, Alonso defiantly answered, "Yes, 100 percent. The question is if we were able to fight for victory."
"The car was amazing today at the start. We did an amazing launch and I was in front of Hamilton in Turn 1. After that we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was only Vettel, Kimi and Verstappen that hit me so arguably we could be in P1 now."
Surprisingly the damage didn't force Alonso into immediate retirement but he was forced to stop on lap eight with an electrical failure.
"I asked the team what the damage on the car was but they were not completely sure because they lost the data as well," he said. "Obviously from the cockpit you don't know the damage of the car. I didn't feel great driving with a lot of oversteer."
With the reliance on engine power reduced on the high downforce Singapore circuit, this was McLaren's best chance of the remaining seven races to score a significant haul of points and close the gap to eighth-placed Haas. Alonso says it's disappointing not to have been able to capitalise on a strong Saturday and superb start.
"Unfortunately this race we had a lot of hopes," he said. "These things sometimes happen in racing and unfortunately it happened to us today.
"There are some tough remaining races. Some of them will be better than others and we will try and take a benefit from the good ones."