Alonso frustrated ‘two great races’ haven’t been rewarded
Fernando Alonso is disappointed “two great races” to start the 2021 Formula 1 season have ended with results that do not reflect his or Alpine’s performance and also “gifted points” to rivals
Fernando Alonso is disappointed “two great races” have ended with results that do not reflect his or the Alpine Formula 1 team’s performance and also “gifted points” to rivals.
The two-time F1 world champion has just two points from the opening two grands prix of the 2022 season after finishing ninth in Bahrain and retiring in Saudi Arabia while on course to finish sixth.
Alpine has been much more competitive than Alonso’s own results suggest, with Esteban Ocon finishing seventh and sixth and the team sitting fourth in the constructors’ championship as a result.
After the clear frustration of retiring with an undisclosed suspected engine problem last weekend, Alonso lamented the fact he has “lost too many points”.
“I had two great races,” said Alonso. “One in Bahrain, but unfortunately with maybe the wrong strategy with the starting tyres that had been scrubbed that compromised my whole race, and also with an engine that was not great.
“And now I was very fast in qualifying [in Saudi Arabia], very unlucky because some other people didn’t have new tyres in Q3 and the scrubbed set was the fastest.
“So we had to overtake some cars and go back to our natural position this weekend, which was fifth or sixth. And then another retirement.
“So it’s disappointing to have only two points after two great weekends. The pace seems a little bit better than what the results say.
“And we gifted some points to the people behind us.
“We’ll turn it around and hopefully we’ll receive some of these gifts in the future.”
Alonso said the encouragement of another good performance at the front of F1’s midfield offered little consolation given the lost points.
“I could be sixth or seventh in the championship and I’m not in that position,” he said.
“And it’s not because we don’t deserve it. It’s just because we didn’t maximise the points.”
After a disappointing 2021 campaign in which it was mainly in the second midfield group, Alpine has started the season in contention to be best-of-the-rest behind Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes.
Alonso has made it into Q3 at both grands prix and Ocon even outqualified the two Mercedes in Saudi Arabia.
Alpine also had an edge on Alfa Romeo and Haas in the Jeddah race, having trailed both in Bahrain.
“The Alfa Romeo seems a little bit faster in some places,” said Alonso. “The Haas was very fast in Bahrain and [George] Russell was OK today but not outstanding.
“We are there. And now it’s up to us to make some progress.
“Maybe we are not the third fastest but it seems like we could be consistent and without the DNF we could have done sixth and seventh.
“That would put us on a good level of points. There’s still a long way to go but I felt fast on track.”
