Fernando Alonso feels that the Alpine strategists are making too many errors which have cost him a lot of points this season.
Alonso’s 2022 season has not been as great as his 2021 comeback promised it would be. He’s still performing at the top of his game even at the age of 41, but his performances have not been converted to great results on several occasions this year.
Reliability issues and strategy goof-ups have cost Alonso a lot of points this year. The Spaniard suffered a similar fate at the 2022 Japanese GP when his team decided to keep him out on full wets while others were pitting for intermediate tires.
Fernando Alonso to the team after the finish line:
“What a mistake, eh, I mean strategically, what are you doing to me this year”#JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/5BE4vg5yQK
— Fernando Alonso updates (@startonpole) October 9, 2022
Alpine called Alonso in for his stop a lap later and he lost a lot of positions consequently. The Oviedo-born driver then had to fight his way up the field, only to be held up by Sebastian Vettel at the finishing line by just 0.01 seconds. He finished the race in P7, whereas pitting earlier could have seen him up in P5 or P6.
After the race, the two-time World Champion was not pleased with the Alpine strategists and he let it know on the team radio.
Also read: Lewis Hamilton comes terrifyingly close to Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari after lap 1 carnage
Fernando Alonso looks back on a difficult Japanese GP
Alonso questioned his team’s strategy after the Suzuka outing, not just for that afternoon but for the entire season. He feels that there were plenty of times when his results suffered because of poor decision-making.
“What a mistake, eh?”, he said on the radio. “I mean strategically. What are you doing this year to me?”
However, taking the entire weekend into account, Alonso admitted that it was very difficult. The conditions were not favorable for most of the time, with the race almost being called off due to heavy rain. It did start in the end, but we were treated to only 28 laps of racing action.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding the FIA and how they let a tractor into the circuit while drivers were still out there. On top of that, their five-second penalty imposed on Charles Leclerc in the immediate aftermath of the race, meant that Max Verstappen became World Champion in the most anti-climactic way possible.
Pierre Gasly set to replace Alonso at Alpine in 2023
Earlier this year, Alonso revealed that he would leave Alpine for Aston Martin at the end of the 2022 season. This was a shocking move but the French outfit did not waste time in announcing their academy prodigy Oscar Piastri as his replacement.
Alpine 🤝 Pierre Gasly
It will be an all French line-up at Alpine in 2023 as Pierre Gasly joins Esteban Ocon on the team 📝
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) October 8, 2022
Unfortunately, that led to embarrassment for them since the Aussie revealed that his plans in F1 pointed in the direction of another team. That team turned out to be McLaren and Alpine were left without a driver.
After assessing their options, they decided that Pierre Gasly would be the best option. The AlphaTauri driver is immensely talented, and if he and Esteban Ocon work well together, they have an exciting pairing at their disposal.
