Fernando Alonso 'had more failures' than Esteban Ocon, admits Alpine boss

Fernando Alonso ended the 2022 Formula 1 season ninth in the World Drivers' Championship (WDC), as Alpine F1 finished the season in P4 in the Constructors' Championship. Fernando Alonso's woes throughout the season were for all to see as his team's "reliability issues" were being blamed. Alonso had to retire for the sixth time this season in the final race of the season at the 2022 F1 Abu Dhabi GP.

The two-time world champion had already addressed his car and team's problems after the Mexican GP, claiming that he had lost around 60 points due to his team's unreliability. The Spaniard said:

"Car #14 stops and it always seem like there is reliability issues for Car #14. I think I lost 60 points [already] this year, so we add another six [for seventh place], so it is 66. Obviously everyone else then scores two more points than what they should."

He added:

"It's just amazing that only one or two cars retire from every race, and it is always Car #14, which blew up five engines I think this year. We had a [hydraulic problem] in Australia and then at the [sprint race] in Austria, I didn't even start because it was a blackout. So I think it is 19 races, and in more or less than 50% of them, we didn't score the points we deserved."

However, Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer has admitted the faults in Car #14. When asked if he understood Alonso's frustrations, he said:

"For sure he had more failures then Esteban did, and it was always at times when he could have scored good points. So yeah, he does. I too am not happy that for example in Melbourne, I think he could have been maybe on pole position, but he had an issue in qualifying. So for sure that’s disappointing."

Szafnauer continued:

"However, even if we had no issues on Fernando’s side and he would have scored all those points that he lost, we still would have finished fourth in the championship. That was our goal. We’ve achieved that."

Fernando Alonso's stint at Alpine is over now and the 41-year-old is a part of Aston Martin F1.

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Fernando Alonso to join Aston Martin in 2023

Fernando Alonso has been brought in by Aston Martin to replace Sebastian Vettel for the 2023 F1 season as the German four-time world champion retired at the end of the 2022 season. Fernando Alonso, the two-time world champion, will be going into the 2023 season as a 41-year-old and will race in his 20th season in F1.

Let's see what Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin have lined up for the future, with the Spaniard set to team up with Lance Stroll for the 2023 season of F1.