The Formula 1 it is a sport in which the results govern the reality of the match. How can you defend the high level of a driver if he doesn’t manage to finish in the top places? Grays usually do not have a place in the queen category and this creates difficulties when evaluating some pieces. The one that best fits the category great driver, bad car in this 2022 is Fernando Alonso.
The two-time world champion suffered the reality of Renault’s powertrains again with his fifth retirement of the season (six if you include the I run from Austria). This was particularly painful considering the Spaniard’s performance in GP of Mexico. He was fastest in the mid lane by far, controlling the downgrade and pace at will and so was destined to finish 7th. With just under 30 laps to go, his engine lost power and his times plummeted until he had to pit at the end of the long straight.
Images captured by TV showed #14’s anger, frustration and despair:
The fury of Fernando Alonso
Dropout season 5
Again for reliability 💔#MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/gfrjNCYYyT
— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 Spain 🇪 (@sportingnewses) October 30, 2022
With two Grands Prix to contest, Fernando Alonso has his mind more on testing Abu Dhabi with Aston Martin, more so after missing almost all mathematical options of being 8th and thus beating his teammate Esteban Ocon.
At the end of the race in Mexico, the Spaniard didn’t mince words and was highly critical of Alpine’s problems.
“For the #14 car, there are always reliability issues. It’s unbelievable that only one or two cars retire in every race, and there’s always the #14.“, commented the Spaniard to the media.I’ve broken five engines this year. The classification problem in Australia. in Austria I didn’t even start the Sprint because of failure. So I think that in 19 matches, more or less 50% of them, we haven’t got the points we deserve. But there’s nothing we can do now.”
Alonso’s level this season has been impressive. He was the driver outside the Red Bull-Ferrari-Mercedes trio who averaged the highest positions. He has beaten his ranked teammate 11-8, being 2nd even in Canada. Also, despite being the 9th to have added the most points overall it’s just the 14th in kilometers traveled while Ocon is 4th.
The Spaniard has reached the point where he no longer blames his problems on luck. Probably pointing the finger at Alpine. “No, I don’t think we’re ready”Explain. “The engine can’t finish the races. It can’t be bad luck when you have to change six or seven engines like we did, and you still don’t finish the races. I think they have work to do in the winter, hopefully not too much.”
“My level is very high at this stage of the season and the position at the end of the year will be one of the lowest”it is done.
