His 350th Formula 1 start was not what Fernando Alonso had in mind in Singapore – The Alpine driver rages about the missed opportunity after an engine failure
What was supposed to be a day of celebration for Fernando Alonso after becoming the most experienced Grand Prix driver in Formula One history in Singapore with his 350th career start, however, turned into a nightmare after a Renault engine failure, as the Spaniard himself immediately told over the radio.
The Spaniard started the 2022 Singapore Grand Prix in fifth place after a strong qualifying session, where he shone and even challenged for pole position at times, although the performance of his Alpine did not allow him to beat the favourites, both the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the Red Bull of Sergio Pérez, who were on the front row.
Starting from fifth, the two-time world champion tried to make up places at the start but lost out to the McLaren of Lando Norris and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly, but made up for it on the first hard braking when he overtook the Frenchman.
Does an engine change loom for Alonso at Suzuka?
From there, the Spaniard held off Max Verstappen in the same position as at the start of the race. On lap 22, however, Alonso was forced to retire early due to engine failure.
“Once again we lost eight or ten points,” Alonso frets. “During the year, I think it was 50 points, and now we have lost another ten. To lose 60 points in the championship is unacceptable!”
“I think I performed well all weekend and once again it was interrupted by a mechanical failure,” he added. “Now we will definitely have to take a new engine in the next races, which will make us lose a lot of points again. “
Ocon also retires with power unit problem
His teammate Esteban Ocon also retired in Singapore, but the situation was very different, as Alonso himself admitted: “It’s true that in this race both Alpines retired, but one was 13th and it would have been zero points, so it doesn’t change much, but personally this year changes almost everything for me. “
“It was a frustrating day for the team,” added Ocon. “For me, a problem with the power unit ended our race early. It’s obviously very disappointing to leave Singapore with a double retirement, but the positive thing we can take away is that our car worked well all weekend and we know we have good pace.”
Team boss Otmar Szafnauer explained the two technical retirements, “It looks like we had a similar problem with the power unit on both cars, which we will investigate in detail. It is important that we find out the cause of the incident and take preventive measures to avoid a recurrence. “
Alonso looking forward to Suzuka: “One of my favourite circuits!
Despite this, Alonso is keen to reflect on the progress made at Alpine: “I think we can look at the positives and again be very proud of our performance this weekend. We were fighting for the top five and six places on Saturday and it was similar in today’s race.”
This week Formula 1 returns for the Japanese Grand Prix, something the Spaniard is looking forward to for a number of reasons: “The good thing is that I don’t have time for anything now, I can’t wait to get back in the car.”
“Suzuka is also one of my favourite circuits and so are the Japanese fans, so I can’t wait to get to Japan and I’ll also have a few days rest in Tokyo because I love it there,” said Alonso.
