“I had had an energy problem in the engine the whole race,” said the Asturian after his retirement, with which he ends a streak of 10 straight races in the points.
Five months ago, Alpine had completed its only double zero of the World Championship in Imola. In Monza, the other cathedral of F1 in Italy, another severe setback arrived this Sunday. Fernando Alonso suffered his second abandonment of the year, after a breakdown on lap 32 and Stephen Ocon finished outside the points, behind an AlphaTauri, an Alfa Romeo and a Williams.
A few minutes after Alonso got off the A522, with a lot of action still on the track, Alpine was quick to report an “engine water pressure problem”. However, the Asturian did not want to be so precise with his first words in the mixed zone. “On the radio they didn’t want to tell me I had a problem, so I’m not sure if they didn’t know very well or it was to continue,” he said.
“I had had some kind of energy problem in the engine the entire race, it cut very quickly on the straights and it was difficult to maintain a battle,” added the two-time world champion, who thus sees his streak of 10 consecutive races in the points come to an end.
“Let’s hope it’s not too broken”
An ugly way to commemorate another longevity record, which he now shares with Kimi raikkonen (350 races over 19 seasons). In three weeks, at the Singapore GP, Alonso will lead the all-time table alone, although he still doesn’t know what conditions he will have to face that demanding night event. “Hopefully the engine isn’t too broken so we can use it later,” he predicted.
The step back with Alpine also coincided with the Aston Martin debacle, Alonso’s destiny from 2023. When the first quarter of an hour had not yet been completed, the British team lost Sebastian Vettel due to a mechanical mishap, which left him stranded on the Ascari Variation.
For its part, Lance Stroll he received an alarming message on lap 39 that was only the foretaste of his goodbye. “Put on the brakes,” they radioed the Canadian. The lack of speed of Alonso, Vettel and Stroll can be summed up in one fact: they were the only three drivers on the grid who could not close a lap below 1:27.
In any case, with six races remaining in the championship, Alpine remains in fourth place in the World Championship, with an 18-point margin over McLaren. A fairly delicate course closing for Otmar Szafnauer, main team of the French squire, whose work has been supervised this weekend from the field by Luca de MeoCEO of the Renault Group and laurent rossihead of the F1 division.
Quite reluctant to self-criticize, Szafnauer preferred to keep the “positive aspects” of this triplet (Spa-Zandvoort-Monza), in which his team has added 26 points and announced “further improvements” for the next appointment in Marina Bay.