Alonso: I don't know if Vandoorne's DNS was good or bad luck...

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Fernando Alonso has once more directed his ire at the lack of straight line speed in his McLaren-Honda as his dogged efforts in the Bahrain Grand Prix went unrewarded with another DNF with two laps to go.

The Spaniard hustled hard with the likes of Jolyon Palmer and Daniil Kvyat just outside the top ten for many laps despite the power deficit to both, but would be forced to pit with two laps to go after a power unit failure in a race that saw Stoffel Vandoorne forced out for the same reason before it began.

Indeed, Alonso says he was 'amazed' at the deficit in speed against his rivals down the straight, saying he would begin the home stretch 400m ahead of a car, only to find it alongside in the braking zone at Turn 1.

"It was amazing the deficit that we had on the straights today," he said. "Sometimes I looked in the mirror at the beginning of the straight, I saw the car 300, 400 metres behind, so I forgot completely about that car and started changing settings on the steering wheel, and under braking he was alongside!

"So it was surprising at times the deficit we had. We tried to be close to the points. We nearly done because we were running P11, P12, but not enough so we need to keep working."

With Vandoorne failing to take the start due to technical problems on a weekend that saw Honda lose three power units before the race began, Alonso says he wasn't sure if the Belgian had 'good or bad luck' in missing out.

"Obviously. Green light is on, you start being motivated and start fighting. Sometimes, well, I was thinking of Stoffel at the start of the race and I don't know if it was good or bad luck for him. When you are in the race, you are so vulnerable, you are so behind on the straights there is no way you can defend.