Szafnauer confirms Alonso’s involvement
Otmar Szafnauer indicated that he had no doubt about Fernando Alonso's motivation at Alpine, despite a difficult start to the 2022 season.
After a very contrasting start to the season, some may begin to doubt Fernando Alonso’s involvement and motivation in the Alpine project. With only two small points scored, the Spaniard has also not been spared by bad luck, already trailing his teammate Esteban Ocon by 22 points, who has entered the points on four occasions out of the first five Grand Prix.
While the French driver continues to consistently score points, with the added bonus of a magnificent comeback from last to eighth place at the Miami Grand Prix this weekend, the Spanish driver has been outside the top 10 since the opening race in Bahrain. Furthermore, in Miami, Alonso seemed elsewhere, making multiple mistakes and finishing the race with a ten-second penalty, ejecting him from the points zone at the last moment.
Faced with these difficulties of his pilot, Otmar Szafnauer wanted to reassure everyone, especially regarding the weekend of the Spaniard in Miami. « I think he is doing very well. He continues to push for more, just like Fernando does. He should have started higher. I think he narrowly missed out on Q3 [in Miami] and we had the pace of a Bottas or a Hamilton in qualifying. Once you start from there, it’s a different race, so we need to put everything together for Fernando, and also for Esteban. We will do that in the near future and score even more points. »
“It has been frustrating, but there will be better moments to come,” adds Szafnauer.
