End of series for Alpine, deprived of points at Monza

Alpine didn't see that one coming. With at least one A522 in the Top 10 between Miami (May 8) and Zandvoort (September 4), the equivalent of 11 races, the A arrow was caught in mid-flight, partly by its old demons from the start of the season. If Esteban Ocon had a more difficult challenge starting from 14th place on the grid, Fernando Alonso was betrayed by his mechanics for the 3rd time this year.

On a dynamic of 10 Grands Prix in a row with at least one point and whilehe placed 2022 among the 2 best seasons of his career, the Asturian was unable to do anything in Italy. From the first minutes of the race, Fernando Alonso complained of a problem with the deployment of his energy. car before being called by the wall to retire for good due to a water pressure problem.

« The race was complicated, the Spaniard admitted afterwards. We had difficulty following the cars in front of us in a straight line. We then had to abandon the race due to a water pressure problem, the cause of which we have yet to determine. We battled through the Top 10 and I was hoping to take the checkered flag in the points, but that wasn't the case. »

Retirement and end of series for Fernando Alonso. ©DPPI

Alpine misses the mark, McLaren takes advantage

With this Italian zero point, Alpine does not perform a very good operation in the fight with McLaren for 4th place among the Manufacturers. If the damage is limited in particular thanks to the abandonment of Daniel Ricciardo while he was 8th, the French team saw Lando Norris take the checkerboard in 7th position. A result which allows the Oranges to come back to 18 points behind the Blues to the great regret of their main team, Otmar Szafnaeur.

« We are obviously disappointed not to have scored points during the Italian Grand Prix, pointed out the director ofAlpine. Esteban narrowly missed out. Fernando, for his part, had to give up even though he was in a good position (...) We will carry out our usual investigations to identify the cause and find the solution for the future. For his part, Esteban put himself in an advantageous position during his second stint – lapping a second faster than those ahead of him – and was on course to be able to fight for points before the safety car at the end of the race."

Alpine leaves Italy empty-handed for the 2^e time of the season after Imola in April when Fernando Alonso also retired and Esteban Ocon only finished 14^e. With the Asian tour in their sights, the A arrow will no longer be able to afford this kind of performance at the risk of losing further ground on McLaren who seemed a cut above at Monza last weekend. See you in 3 weeks in Singapore (October 2).

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