F1 | Australian GP | Alonso "We’ve shown we are competitive, we could have been on the podium"
Fernando Alonso said that Alpine has been a bit faster than Mercedes throughout the Australian weekend, and that they could've aim to the podium if it wasn't for what happened during quali.
Despite the result, Alpine proved to be competitive throughout the weekend, showing a positive performance on the Albert Park circuit, in Melbourne.
After a start to the season with some difficulties, the French team aimed high in Australia, looking at possible podium as Fernando Alonso explained:
“I am little bit speechless, because I think today, we could have been on the podium to be honest. If we could have qualified third or fourth yesterday with Max out…,” he explained, referring to the incident that occurred last Saturday during the qualifying session.
During the first run, Alonso was launched into a fantastic lap, he even achieved the best performance, among the 10 cars in Q3, in the middle sector, but unfortunately it all went up in smoke when his car had an hydraulic failure and his gear remained stuck at turn 11, forcing him into the barriers.
🚩 RED FLAG 🚩
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 9, 2022
Alonso loses the car at Turn 11 and he hits the wall 😫#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/wmxlJvOTuz
If he had taken that lap home, his race start would have probably been different and with Max Verstappen's DNF, Alonso and his Alpine could have battled for more than a seventeenth place finish, also because the Safety Car entered during lap 24 changed the team's strategy.
Alonso grained his mediums after eventually pitting on lap 39 under the VSC for Verstappen's DNF and dropped to the back of the field.
“I think we were a little bit faster than the Mercedes this weekend – so we lost an opportunity here and also in Jeddah when we were doing a very good race,” the Spaniard stated.
"It seems the way it is at the moment, we are a little bit unlucky. Twenty races to go and in some of them I will be super lucky, I guess.”
The French team, former Renault, however showed good competitiveness in the midfield, testifying to the fact that Esteban Ocon took home some important points, finishing the race in seventh position.
“Overall, we’ve shown we are competitive, and we will keep building on the good base that we have, especially by bringing some upgrades to upcoming races to enable us to keep fighting higher up the grid”Alonso said.
“For that, we will work on consistency in order to get both cars into the points. We move onto the next one when we race in Europe again in Imola. Our team is very much in the mix, and it is up to us now to remain highly motivated in this championship contest.”
Then he commented on the next race in Imola, Italy:
“I think it’s going to be a real test for us because it’s quite slow compared to the last two events – we will see, if we can keep this performance, but I think... in Imola we will see some upgrades for everyone I guess, so we will see how fast we can be.”
Driver debrief in Melbourne. We move on to Imola.#AusGP pic.twitter.com/fjEqvWICPH
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) April 10, 2022
