Nightmare Saturday for Alonso

(GMM) World champion Fernando Alonso endured a nightmarish qualifying day at Magny Cours.

In free practice he lost valuable track time with brake problems, and then failed to set a time in the ultimate qualifying session when he returned to the pits after emitting puffs of smoke.

McLaren initially thought the problem was related to his engine, spreading fears of a further ten-place drop, but it was actually a gearbox fault, according to the Spanish news agency EFE.

He will start the French GP just tenth.