Fernando Alonso, devastated after another breakdown: "In one of my best years, I lost more than 60 points in reliability"
Published by The team in News the
03/10/2022 at 10:45
Fernando Alonso became the driver with the most races in Formula 1 history at the Singapore Grand Prix. On the formation lap of his 351st Grand Prix, Alpine wished Alonso a very special race, but said nothing new: the car broke down again, bleeding Alonso more points .
Desperate, Alonso posted a photo on his social media in which he is seen sitting dejected next to the wall in Singapore . He accompanied it with a message full of frustration in which he specifies that he also realizes what is happening: Alpine's constant breakdowns are costing him an insane number of points.
Alonso has had reliability issues in eight of 17 Grands Prix to date
"It hurts to think that in one of my best years in terms of performance, I lost over 60 points due to reliability issues ," Alonso said in a harsh post on his Instagram profile. The Asturian added that he preferred to stay with the fact that he had returned 'to the best level' and assured that 'great things are yet to come'.
Prior to the Singapore Grand Prix, there was debate over whether or not to change Alonso's engine for the final stage of the season. The response was overwhelming: a breakdown as the Asturian driver ran sixth, close to Lando Norris and holding Max Verstappen behind him. In the end, Norris finished fourth.
Alonso's bleeding is outrageous. In Bahrain, the first race, he already fell from seventh to ninth position for reliability, and from there everything got worse. In Saudi Arabia, race two, he was consolidated sixth when the Alpine broke down in the final laps. What about Australia, the third race, when Alonso was fighting for pole and, again, the car broke down.
In the fourth race, at Imola, it was not a breakdown, but Mick Schumacher got ahead of him at the start. So already in the sixth, in Spain, it was time to use the fourth engine for the first time and start last. After this terrible start to the championship, Alonso shone with a wet front row in Canada , but the Alpine again failed in the race with electrical problems.
In the Austrian sprint race, the daunting image of Alonso's car with radiators on the grid forced him to start last in Sunday's feature race. At Spa it was Lewis Hamilton who crashed into him early in the race, and when it looked like poor reliability had been left behind, he came back strong.
Alonso accumulates two races in a row, Monza and Singapore, giving up with a breakdown when he was solidly consolidated in the points area. Doing an honest math, the two-time champion may have lost between 55 and 70 points so far this season solely due to incidents beyond his control. His only big mistake was in Miami, where he gave up four more points.
The worst thing about Alonso's breakdown in Singapore is that it will practically force him to go last to Suzuka , where he will most likely have to use a new unit. The tragedy of Alpine is that Ocon also blew up an engine in Singapore, an even newer engine. The Frenchman continues with a seven-point lead in the overall standings with five nominations to go.
And it is that Ocon also suffered many breakdowns in 2022, but curiously always in races where he was far behind, outside the points, like Silverstone or this one in Singapore. Chance also influences. But the fact is that Alpine has two races in a row without scoring and McLaren has already passed them in the world championship. Very difficult.