F1 News
This is how many points Alonso and has lost in F1 2022 due to problems
Once again Fernando Alonso dropped out with an engine problem in 2022. The list of problems for Alonso is huge and when you start adding up the points he lost, you can understand the Spaniard's frustration.
Frustration at Alonso
Alpine's A522 is very fast this year. Certainly on the straights in the French car a rocket, but as has been the case for years, the engine is not reliable. At least, Alonso's engine is. Alonso stated that after the Mexican Grand Prix, where it was again the engine on his side of the garage that broke down.
Alonso is no stranger to a bit of controversy, but saying that only his car keeps breaking down is remarkable. However, looking at the list of problems in the Instagram post below, one can understand the frustration.
View this post on Instagram
Engine problems for Alonso
It all started in Bahrain, where Alonso suffered an engine problem. Still, the damage that Grand Prix was not that great. Indeed, he finished in ninth place, where he had been bivouacked for the entire race. That was different in Saudi Arabia, where in seventh place Alonso felt his car gave up and saw six points fly away.
In Australia, Alonso's car prevented him from making a good run in Q3, where he had consistently been in the top five up to that point. In the race, he is on P6 when a virtual safety car suits him badly. A problem with his car in the race sees him finish in 17th place. Again, some six points fall by the wayside.
In Imola, it was over even quicker. In the rain, Alonso finished in eighth position on the first lap and a good result seems achievable, but Mick Schumacher lost control of his car and taps the side of the A522. The car is damaged to the extent that Alonso has to retire. With this, Alonso loses about four points again.
In Miami, things didn't go well for Alonso as his pit stop took over five seconds, but his hard defensive action on Pierre Gasly earned him another time penalty. In Spain, he had to change his engine so started from the back. The Spaniard still drove to P9 in front of his own crowd but sees Ocon take four more points with a P7.
In Canada, Alonso qualified on the front row in the rain, but in the dry race conditions, Alonso dropped back slightly. Before his engine problems, he was at P5/P6. Due to engine problems, he sunk further and further down and also defends too hard for his seventh spot in the closing stages. Valtteri Bottas still gets that spot due to an Alonso time penalty and the Spaniard also loses a place to Guanyu Zhou as a result.
Alpine is unreliable
Austria looked set to be a good race weekend for Alpine, as Alonso qualified in P8 behind Esteban Ocon in P5. Alonso does not get around to racing for those spots, as his car broke down again in the sprint race. He still managed tenth place in a catch-up race on Sunday but saw teammate Ocon take nine more points with his fifth place. One could argue that Alonso could have finished near there.
At the Belgian Grand Prix, Alonso was hit by Lewis Hamilton, but he probably would not have finished higher than his eventual fifth place anyway. Things went wrong again in Italy when Alonso dropped out from P7 with engine problems. The same thing happens in Singapore a few weeks later. Alonso then drove to P6, with Max Verstappen right behind him.
Alonso's last outing was in Mexico. There, the Alpine driver also had a good race and seemed on his way to seventh place before his engine problems. However, the 41-year-old driver started losing ground with the problems and eventually crashed out at P9.
An estimate yields a loss of around 40 points. Even without calculating the impact on other drivers, this would put Alonso on 111 points, as many as Lando Norris. In addition, he would also be almost thirty points ahead of Ocon and that would be even more if you include the consequences for Ocon. After all, he often benefited from Alonso's bad luck.
It would also have given a lot more peace of mind for Alpine. 40 more points in the battle for the constructors' championship would not mean they would be competing for third place, but the distance to McLaren would be much greater than it is now (seven points). Alpine's reliability will really have to improve in the coming years if they really wants to compete for the prizes.
