After eleven races, nobody can say that the level of Fernando Alonso in this 2022 F1 season is reflected in the drivers’ championship, where the Spaniard is in tenth place, 17 points from ninth and seven above eleventh.
A series of problems with the car and setbacks in the race, in addition to a difficult start to the season, means that Alonso has left several circuits with the feeling that he could have added much more.
The Asturian defends that he is at one of his best levels in Formula 1, comparing his 2022 season with the performance he had in 2012, when he was three points away from being champion.
When Alpine director Otmar Szafnauer was asked if he recalled a similar run of big performances with few results, he gave a curious answer: “I do, Takuma Sato in the mid-2000s with Jenson Button as his partner. We had a lot of engine failures with Honda when he was in points positions, and it always happened to him. So I’ve seen it before.”
And he defends Alpine: “It’s not that we’re failing Fernando. There are a variety of reasons why he’s not scoring points. I remember Mick Schumacher hitting him and the pontoon coming loose. I remember the defense in Canada against Bottas and the penalty, or the penalty in Miami. There are all kinds of things.”
Although Szafnauer did not specify which season he was referring to with respect to Takuma Sato, it is a year at BAR Honda , where the Japanese and the British director coincided in 2004 and 2005. And comparing both years, it is understood that Szafnauer speaks of the former, when Sato had seven retirements in 18 races, almost all of them when he was in the points zone and a couple of them with podium aspirations.
As for Alonso, Szafnauer sees him happy and still hungry: “I have not worked with him in the past, this is my first year, but from what I see he still likes racing. He is a great competitor, he loves to compete and I think that in life, in general, you are happy when you exceed expectations.
“So if your expectations are realistic and you exceed them, you are happy in life. Not only Fernando, I think all of us.”
In the recent Austrian GP, the coin came out tails again for Alonso. On Saturday he couldn’t even start the sprint race due to an engine problem and on Sunday, when he aspired to be 6th after starting 19th, another problem in a pitstop caused him to lose positions (he finished 10th).
However, the director distanced himself from setbacks like the one in the sprint race: “Well, when it’s things like that, it can happen to anyone. I don’t think it’s Alpine’s problem.”
“Everything indicates that the ECU failed. So it’s not something we designed, it’s not something we make, it’s something we buy, it’s a standard part. So did an Alpine car fail because of something in the car itself or because of its installation or something like that? I doubt it, but we have to find out why it failed,” he concluded.
