The Spaniard had set the fastest time in the second free practice in his Renault on Friday and repeated the feat in the final free session on Saturday ahead of qualifying for Formula One's inaugural night race.

However, Alonso's mastery of the difficult 5.067km street circuit was undone by the problem at the start of the second qualifying session, forcing the visibly angry driver to abandon his car at turn 18.

'It's a really big disappointment because we had a real chance to do something special today, perhaps not pole but at least to qualify in the top four,' Alonso, who will start Sunday's race 15th on the grid, told reporters.

'Our weekend was going really well and we had big hopes for the evening.'

Drivers were united in believing the Marina Bay Circuit will be almost impossible to overtake on, something Alonso was well aware of. His lowly position on the grid compounded his disappointment.

'Starting in the middle of the pack will make for a difficult race,' the 27-year-old said.

'We will need a miracle with the strategy to be able to make progress on this street circuit.'

Renault executive director of engineering Pat Symonds also lamented Alonso's misfortune and felt the team missed an opportunity to challenge for victory on Sunday.

'All the way through practice Fernando has shown a potential on this wonderful new circuit better than we had all year,' he said.

'That makes it doubly frustrating to have this problem in qualifying which prevented the driver and the team from showing what we could have done.

'But as a team we never give up and as it is difficult to overtake here, we will have to be creative.'

Renault's second driver, Brazil's Nelson Piquet, will start one position behind his team mate after a disappointing qualifying session in which he was eliminated in the first round. -- REUTERS