Fernando Alonso says he started the Mexican Grand Prix knowing retirement was inevitable due to an MGU-H problem.

The McLaren driver retired at the end of the opening lap after reporting a loss of power having started from 18th due to a grid penalty. Alonso explained McLaren had seen a problem with his MGU-H overnight and had not had enough time to replace the part in order to make the car reliable for the race.

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“Yesterday night we spotted some MGU-H rotation speed problems and then this morning we confirmed it,” Alonso said. “There was no time to replace it anymore so the possibilities were not to start the race or try to do as much as we could knowing that maybe one lap was the maximum. I think out of respect for the fans we tried to race and the first lap at least was enjoyable, the first three corners.”

Asked if he started the race expecting to retire, Alonso replied: “We knew.

“Not expecting, we knew. Yesterday Jenson didn’t take part in qualifying, if today I didn’t take part in the race it was not good. I think I showed enough respect for the fans because I really wanted to go to the grid, do the start and then we’d see what happened. We confirmed our pessimistic thoughts but at least we tried and it’s always better to try.”

And Alonso admits it has been a frustrating two races for him having hit reliability issues in Austin last weekend too.

“Yeah I think it has been two long weeks now away from home with zero points and not even participating so it’s very frustrating.”