Fernando Alonso has been left ruing his loss of points in the championship following another DNF at the Singapore Grand Prix. Things had looked promising for the Alpine driver ahead of the race – which was his record-breaking 350th start in Formula 1 – after he qualified in P5 on the grid, putting him ahead of the likes of Max Verstappen. However, it proved to be a brief outing for Alonso, with a mechanical issue forcing him to retire on Lap 21 of the event. Teammate Esteban Ocon suffered a similar issue just a few laps later, meaning that Alpine's championship rivals McLaren were able to benefit from the squad's double DNF and overtake them for fourth place in the standings.
Alonso disappointed by loss of points
"It's a pity to retire early from today’s race, and it means we've missed out on some decent points in the championship," Alonso said after the Grand Prix. "I think we can look at the positives and we can be very proud of our performance this weekend again. We were fighting for the top five and six positions on Saturday and similar in today’s race. "It was a very tricky race in difficult conditions, and it was hard to see the dry line appearing on the track. "We have another race coming next weekend, so at least we can shift focus immediately to Japan and getting back into the points there." Despite being able to take the positives from the weekend, Alonso has been reflecting on the amount of points he has lost through recording four retirements during the season. "Once more I think I was minus 50 points already this year with the mechanical issues and so we add another 10, so I am minus 60," the two-time World Champion explained. "So, if you add 60 points to my standings, I think we are in another league. "I am very proud of the performance again this weekend, one of my best levels but we cannot finish when we are in the points. So, nothing we can do now at this point."
Latest DNF "hurts" for Alonso
Taking to social media after the race, Alonso reiterated that the deficit of points has been difficult to accept, but thanked fans for continuing to show their support. "It hurts again to think that in one of my best years of performance, we have lost more than 60 points because of reliability issues," the 41-year-old – who will join Aston Martin in 2023 – posted on Instagram Stories. "But the positive and most important in this 2022 was to come back to the best level, so I'm sure beautiful things are coming. Thanks for all the love and endless support." Alonso currently sits P9 in the World Championship standings with 59 points, seven points behind teammate Ocon in P8.
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