Fernando Alonso’s nightmare

When will the bad luck end? That’s what you should ask Fernando Alonso after the dispute of Formula 1 Emilia Romagna GP. Four races of the season have passed and the two-time F1 world champion has just added two points in the general classification of driversa result that did not reflect all the sensations that he had Alpine at the start of the championship.

When he could no longer walk, his partner, Stephen Oconis ranked ninth in world with 20 points, accumulating two seventh positions and sixth place in Saudi Arabia, remaining just out of points in Imola due to a reliability failure that affected his qualifying result. It’s only normal that Alonso proved after the Italian appointment that he should have “25 or 30 points.” But due to a series of issues beyond his control, the man from Oviedo has been accumulating three weekends without being ‘read’, also adding two retirements to the last three races.

“I think there have been a lot of unlucky moments for me right now in the championship, out of my hands or out of my control, and this is another example.” he told Imola after hitting Mick Schumacher who knocked him out of the race by destroying the right sidepod of his Alpine A522.

“I’d rather end the season better than start it well and then end it poorly. But at the same time, obviously when you watch races on TV, and I have too many right now, for me to just have two championship points when I should be maybe 25 or 30 … that hurts. “, taught Oviedo. He lives a real nightmare that he hopes will soon end.

“I think, in sensations they are better than the results today, so let’s see if we have any luck in the next grand prix,” he said on the second date, in Saudi Arabia. And the worst for him is that the same phrase continues to serve him. He said that after so many blows of bad luck, he was confident throughout the course there would be “very lucky races”. 19 remaining. So far, in the first four, nothing really.

Three races without scoring for reasons unrelated to his driving

Sa Saudi Arabia, Fernando Alonso left because of a water pump problem which affected the machine. In Australia, a minor setback is the part it was unable to fight for the front row in qualifying and delayed him to tenth place, clearly affecting his subsequent result and strategy. Later, in the race he suffered massive damage to his Alpine. And for the third week in a row, Fernando Alonso finished out of points in Imolathis time for a hit due to a mistake by Mick.

future penalties

Here we need to add an important factor: Fernando Alonso will definitely receive a penalty for changing the engine throughout the season. And it must be done before others. In the first race, in Bahrain, despite being able to finish the appointment, Alpine saw that its engine was faulty and made its second unit debut in Arabia. There, in Jeddah, the aforementioned water pump problem broke that propellant. And in the third race, in Melbourne, he had to use his third engine for the first time, thus reaching the limit of power units allowed by regulation in a full year (23 Grand Prix).

The next new unit you make will carry a penalty on the grid slot that should condition your options.

Fast car, but a major aspect needs improvement

The Alpine has presented itself as a fast car, with the potential to fight to take the lead in the central zone and has a good speed of qualification. On low-load circuits (fast tracks), the car can lift its head in qualifying as it did in Australia, where Alonso is sure he can challenge for the pole. Aside from the need to improve engine reliability, which so far has not affected Fernando at Imola, one of the main doubts about the French vehicle is its very high tire wear, which prevents it from matching its ‘crank’ speed to a good running speed.

Alonso lowered the tires too much on his first stint in Bahrain, or for example, in Australia he broke the tires again, so he finished 17th with an extra stop at the end. And it happened again to Imola in the sprint race. Therefore, Alonso stressed after a short sleeve on Saturday that his team must focus on analysis and understanding this aspect in order to take steps forward.