It was a frustrating afternoon for the ING Renault F1 Team as both Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean retired from the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Fernando Alonso could have finished on the rostrum, however the double world champion suffered an issue with his left front due to a collision on the start and was forced to retire.

"Today I missed an opportunity to be on the podium,” he said. “I had a good start, making up a few positions and the strategy looked good. The car was better than we expected and I was in third position when I came in for my pit stop and it became clear that something was wrong on my left front tyre and the team asked me to retire. We now think it was damaged at the first corner at the beginning of the race. Anyway, Monza is in two weeks and I look forward to making up for the disappointment of today."

Meanwhile, teammate Romain Grosjean was involved in a first lap collision with Jenson Button that ended with further contact with reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton that saw four drivers forced to retire from the race.

"I made a very good start, moving up to thirteenth place and I was keeping a good pace but then Button took me out at turn five and it was the end for me. It's frustrating because I would have loved to finish the race and learn more about the car on this very special track. Hopefully I can do better in Monza."

The team's attention now turns to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in two weeks time.

"Today we took the decision of retiring Fernando's car although he was very competitive in the first part of the race,” added Fernando Alonso. “It's frustrating also that Romain's race came to an end so quickly. Let's turn the page and move on and concentrate on Monza in two weeks time."