Fernando Alonso: “ Alpine will always have a place in my heart”

It's almost time for new goodbyes between Fernando Alonso et Alpine. Returning to the French structure in 2021, the Spaniard is preparing to leave it a third time to see if the grass is greener elsewhere, at Aston Martin in this case. 

“I enjoyed driving for Alpine as well as returning to enstone and Viry, explains Fernando Alonso. I have very good memories of my past with Renault and now Alpine in both factories and the team will always have a special place in my heart. When I returned to Formula 1 for the start of the 2021 season, the team welcomed me and immediately made me feel at ease. Since then, we have had a string of good results. The podium in Qatar was a personal highlight for me and something we achieved on merit that weekend. We were all faced with a completely new set of regulations for 2022 and the team managed to get up to speed with these changes and there was progress compared to last year. »

Alonso and reliability issues

However, Fernando Alonso has not been kind in recent weeks. The double world champion seized every opportunity to criticize the French team. It must be said that the latter was not impeccable in terms of its reliability and the Spaniard was often the victim of problems at the worst times. In Australia for example, where “Nando” saw its car releasing it at the start of the third sector while a first line was in sight. He won the front row in Canada, but once again, the A522's engine prevented him from capitalizing on this incredible performance in qualifying. Each problem or abandonment due to a mechanical problem continued to fuel the frustration of the Iberian.

In Singapore, the Bull of Asturias had to capitulate while occupying sixth place. A second withdrawal in a row after a water outage at Monza. “Definitely, we still have no luck, explained the man who was then celebrating his 350th career Grand Prix. Another excellent weekend from a performance point of view not rewarded with points (…) It hurts to think that, in one of my best years in terms of performance, we lost more than 60 points because of reliability issues. However, the positive and most important side was to return to the best level in 2022 so I am convinced that good things are on the horizon. » In Mexico, yet another abandonment got the better of the patience of the gloomy Asturian.

“For car number 14, there are still reliability issues, cursed Fernando Alonso after Mexico. I think I lost 60 points this year, so if you add (the six points from 7th place Mexico) it's 66. Obviously everyone else is benefiting, they're scoring more points than they should . » At the forefront of these “profiteers”, Esteban Ocon, who commits the crime of lèse-majesté of dominating Fernando Alonso in the Drivers' Championship. While the atmosphere had always seemed good between the two men until then, it clearly deteriorated over the course of a weekend. 

The clash between the two Alpine Brazil

In Brazil last weekend, the two teammates looked for each other a little too much on the track. Taken off course by the Frenchman at the corner of the first lap of the sprint race, Alonso was guilty of a too late maneuver on the other A car in the start/finish straight and the collision was therefore inevitable . With a damaged wing, Fernando ignited the situation on the radio, accusing his teammate of having shifted too late. If this excuse could be useful to Austin after his clash with his future teammate Lance stroll, this time it was much less credible in São Paulo. 

Fifth under the checkered flag of the Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso finally took out the fire extinguisher. “We had a problem yesterday (SATURDAY) with Esteban, but it's the only mistake we've made together in two years. We were tough on each other, but I'm happy we finished with all these points for the team. » Despite his fine words, Fernando Alonso has only one wish: to get into a green single-seater.

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