Listen to this article The Alpine driver says the impact left him with sore thumbs, but he insists he will be OK for the race. Alonso was on a lap that might have earned him pole position in Q3 when a hydraulic failure towards the end of the lap pitched him off the road and into a tyre barrier. By holding onto the steering wheel his hands and thumbs received a heavy jolt, and led to the strapping that was very visible on Sunday at Albert Park. “I’m fine,” he said. “Obviously yesterday I held the steering until the last moment before the crash, just to save the front wing. But I had no power steering at that moment, we had nothing. “It was an extension of the thumbs, so it is a little bit painful now, but it’s going to be OK for the race.” Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522, in the pit lane Photo by: Carl Bingham / Motorsport Images After qualifying Alonso was convinced that he could have got pole, even posting o …