Fernando Alonso's qualifying session at the Mexican Grand Prix came to an abrupt end after Aston Martin instructed the Spaniard to stop his car on track due to a technical problem with the power unit.

Alonso was sitting at the top of the timesheets when the issue emerged, bringing out the red flag with 11 minutes and seven seconds remaining in Q1.

Despite being close to the pit lane, the Aston Martin driver pulled over following instructions from his team, forcing race control to suspend the session while his stranded car was recovered.

The interruption was particularly frustrating for Alonso, who was leading the opening segment of qualifying when his technical troubles struck. His pace throughout free practices also suggested that he could potentially challenge for a place in Q3.

The FIA also noted a "general safety incident", as the Spaniard failed to refit the steering wheel after stopping his car on track.

Follow all the latest developments from qualifying in Mexico City in GPblog's liveblog.