Alpine suffers from a lack of preparation according to Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso, who was in 7th position, was once again forced to retire due to an engine problem at the Mexican Grand Prix. The French team has lost many points this season due to these technical issues. This situation is far from pleasing for the Spanish double world champion, who was seen very annoyed after his retirement.
This 2022 season is mixed for the French team because while there have been significant improvements in performance, the arrow-shaped cars suffer from recurring reliability issues. Fernando Alonso’s retirement at the Mexican Grand Prix demonstrates that this major problem prevents the team from opening a significant gap with McLaren for the 4th place in the constructor standings.
Indeed, if Esteban Ocon’s Alpine finishes 8th in Mexico, the English competitors, who have a less performing but more reliable car, will place both their cars in the points and close the gap in the championship. As a result of numerous engine failures since the beginning of the season, Alonso estimates that he has lost over 60 points throughout the season due to these repeated incidents.
(I) I think I blew up five engines this year. The problem during the qualifications in Australia; in Austria, I didn’t even start the race because of the blackout. So I think in 19 races, more or less 50% of the races, we didn’t score the points we deserve. He confided to Autosport.
Alpine must review its engine block in order to fully exploit the potential of its race car, according to the Spanish double world champion. The theory of bad luck is to be dismissed for the French team’s driver.
(English) No, I think we are not prepared.
« The engine cannot 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 during the winter, I hope not too much.
If the situation is not acceptable for Alpine, it is important to remember that during the development of its power unit for this 2022 season, the priority was given to performance rather than reliability. This surprising decision is justified by the delay of the French engine compared to Ferrari, Honda, and Mercedes, but mostly by the restriction on performance-related developments after the start of the 2022 season.
Indeed, the FIA has frozen the development of engines to prevent cost escalation. Therefore, Alpine has chosen to maximize the development of the engine to be able to overcome reliability shortcomings during the season. The FIA does allow work on reliability issues, but not on performance.
Alpine could therefore have made a winning bet next year if the engine is more reliable than in 2022.
