Fernando Alonso believes that he has had his best start to a Formula 1 season - in terms of competitiveness - for around 10 years, despite only scoring two points so far. The Alpine driver finished P9 at the opening race of the campaign in Bahrain, but since then has suffered two retirements at Jeddah and Imola, and finished outside of the top 10 in Australia and Miami. Alonso thinks that he has experienced a lot of bad luck so far in 2022, and feels that his place in the championship does not reflect his level of performance. "It obviously feels a little bit strange to have two points in the championship, after having probably my best start of the season in terms of competitiveness of the last 10 years, maybe from 2012," Alonso told media, including RacingNews365.com . "I was not as competitive as I felt in these first four races. We've been, I think, extremely unlucky with some of the events that happened."
Luck will balance out, according to Alonso
The two-time World Champion is confident that some good fortune will come his way soon. "It's a matter of time that the result will come," he added. "I feel strong, I feel fast now. The car also feels good, so I'm really looking forward to each weekend." When asked if he believes in luck, Alonso said: "Of course, yeah, good and bad. But, over 23 races, it compensates, so I think I get rid of all of the bad luck already."
Alonso explains comment on competitiveness
Alonso went on to explain that, when suggesting that 2022 has been his most competitive start to a season in nearly a decade, he was referring to both himself and the Alpine team as a whole. "It was not only me, I refer to me and the team," the Spaniard continued. "We've been quite competitive every session that we did so far this year. I think we are top six or top seven, and that didn't happen, for sure, in my McLaren years, or the last few seasons in Ferrari, or last year with Alpine. "So that's the fact that I'm referring [to], and that's pure competitive places that we achieve in practice and qualifying so far. [In] the races, I think [there were things] that were maybe out of our hands, so just pure reliability problems. "We didn't finish the job."
Alpine car feels "fast" to Alonso
Despite his lack of points so far, Alonso has praised the Alpine car, which he says he had a level of confidence in right from pre-season testing. "The car feels fast," the driver commented. "And confidence with a car, that is never a guarantee. When you change the rules, and we have new tyres as well, the 18-inch tyre etc. "Sometimes you need to adapt yourself a little bit and get the confidence into the car to be able to push 100 per cent, and I had that quite immediately from winter testing, so I feel good."
Most read