Alonso’s “unbelievable” points loss - but Alpine say they’re not failing him

Alonso has performed strongly during the opening 11 races of the second year of his F1 comeback but has suffered from bad luck and poor reliability. 

The two-time world champion turned in an excellent recovery drive from the very back of the grid to finish 10th at the Austrian Grand Prix after his car failed to start from P8 during the sprint race.

Speaking following his non-start at the Saturday sprint race, Alonso claimed he had lost 60-70 points this season due to reliability problems but also said he feels back to his best in F1 and “maybe at the level of 2012”. 

“I’m very proud of my own job so far this year,” said Alonso. 

“I feel probably at my highest level driving-wise, thanks to the experience as well, maybe at the level of 2012 and I have 20 points or something like that. It’s unbelievable. 

“Maybe we’ve lost 70 points, I guess, 60 points, if we count all the retirements, bad luck, and reliability. So it’s a very strange season.”

The 40-year-old Spaniard kicked off the 2022 campaign with ninth in Bahrain, before a water pump issue ended his hopes of a top-six finish at the next race in Saudi Arabia. 

Alonso’s impressive qualifying pace in Australia was undone by a hydraulic failure that caused him to crash in Q3, and his race was then ruined by the timing of the Safety Car. 

At Imola, Alonso retired after being hit by Haas driver Mick Schumacher, while two five-second time penalties dropped him from eighth to 11th at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix. 

From the back of the grid, Alonso salvaged points in his home race in Spain, before going on to make it three consecutive top-10 appearances with P7 in Monaco and Azerbaijan. 

Alonso secured a stunning second on the grid during a wet qualifying in Canada, but poor timing of two Virtual Safety Cars and a power unit issue meant he limped home in seventh. Alonso picked up a post-race penalty for weaving on the straights that demoted him to P9. 

A season’s best fifth place was achieved at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone before more misfortune hit Alonso in Austria. 

“I’m driving at my best and I’m trying to work with the team, as close as I can. If we don’t get the points, because of all these reasons, it’s very frustrating,” Alonso continued. 

“But I would be more sad if it was because of own mistakes or spinning around or crashing or something like that, I try to do as much as I can.

“For people who don’t look at the races or the weekend in general and just look at the standings, they get the wrong impressions for sure with this season, because I feel it has been outstanding for #14 crew but very unlucky.”

In what appeared to be a small dig towards Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon, Alonso added: “Reliability has been good, Esteban’s car is always good.” 

'Several reasons' behind Alonso's missed points 

But speaking to Spanish publication AS, Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer dismissed the idea that Alonso has been let down by the team. 

“It's not that we're failing Fernando, there are several reasons why he hasn't scored points,” Szafnauer said. 

“I remember the battle with Mick Schumacher [at Imola], a touch made a hole in the sidepod. His defence in Canada against [Valtteri] Bottas cost him a penalty, just like in Miami.”

Szafnauer added: "Things like what happened on Saturday before the Sprint can happen to anyone. It's not an Alpine problem. 

“We do not know what caused the problem, but everything indicates that it was a problem with the control unit, which is a part that we did not design, but that we bought.

“Failed on an Alpine car because of our installation? I doubt it. But we must understand what has happened. We have to solve all the little problems, so that they don't reappear in the car. You never know what will be next, because otherwise it would already be resolved.”