“It’s simply bad luck”– Alpine boss responds to Fernando Alonso questioning why Esteban Ocon is not facing similar issues

Tanish Chachra | 09/04/2022
Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer claims that Fernando Alonso is just going through a bad luck phase as the Spaniard questions "why only him?"

Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer claims that Fernando Alonso is just going through a bad luck phase as the Spaniard questions “why only him?”

Fernando Alonso in the last three Grand Prix hasn’t had a smooth trip. In the last two races, he lost his two engines, while Alpine could recover the first one, the second one is no more capable of being used.

Thus, Alpine already is on the third engine with only three races done. Now, on Saturday’s qualifying session, Alonso crashed into the wall, and revealed that a hydraulic issue had caused him to lose control of the car.

Talking about it, Alonso wondered why only his car has been facing constant issues. Meanwhile, his teammate Esteban Ocon is yet to face an issue.

“That was really extremely unfortunate. If the problem had occurred 20 seconds later in turn 1 instead of turn 11, we might be on pole position,” said Alonso annoyed.

When asked if he was worried about the technical issues, the Asturian replied snippily: “It’s just a concern with my car. The other seems okay.”

Also read: Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer admits their team is better off not supplying engines to other F1 teams

Fernando Alonso isn’t a target; just bad luck

But Alpine team boss Otmar Szafnauer snubbed any indications of bias by Alonso. According to him, Alonso is just a victim of bad luck, and the team has shown no bias.

“It reminds me of my time at Honda. We had a season (2004) in which Takuma Sato’s engines always went up. But not with his teammate. That’s how it goes sometimes. It’s just bad luck.

Alonso was desperate that he couldn’t make it till the end of this qualifying. The Spaniard was actually making an impressive flying lap and could have got a decent starting place for Sunday. According to Alonso, a P3 was guaranteed.

Alpine this year has shown an improved amount of pace, but would they manage to have a decent points haul from P8 and 10 start?

Also read: Alpine sense a great opportunity to nip Mercedes for P3 in Constructors Standings

Post Edited By: Samriddhi Jaiswal
Alpine Esteban Ocon Fernando Alonso Otmar Szafnauer

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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