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Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer cites power unit-related issues as the cause of the team's double DNF at the 2022 Singapore GP. Both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon retired from the race within seven laps of each other and before the halfway mark.
It all went wrong for the French team at Marina Bay on Sunday evening. The car showed promising pace on Saturday, with Fernando Alonso finding himself in P5 on the grid at the end of the session. However, the Spanish world champion lost yet more points to no fault of his own, suffering another DNF in 2022.
A while later, his teammate Esteban Ocon's car was spotted with a smoky rear-end, leading to a double DNF for the French constructor. To make matters worse for Alpine, their rivals McLaren managed to score good points by finishing fourth and fifth at the end of the race.
The Alpine boss told the media after the race:
“A pity as we’ve been very competitive all weekend. In terms of the progress of our race, it was challenging with the drying conditions and we were about to enter a window where we could have made the call for dry tyres before our retirements. These days happen in racing from time to time and while it’s a disappointing feeling within the team now, we have another race next weekend in Japan where we have the opportunity to recover."
Alpine's Fernando Alonso claims to have lost 60 points due to mechanical failures
Fernando Alonso believes he has lost around 60 points due to his team's reliability issues in 2022. The two-time world champion broke Kimi Raikkonen's record for the most number of F1 starts by a single driver in Singapore, but retired from the race due to yet another engine-related issue.
Alonso managed to put his Alpine in P5 at the end of Saturday's qualifying session, showcasing once again why he is one of the best in the sport despite his age. The Spaniard slipped and slid his way into P5, managing to outqualify much pacier cars. He rued his retirement from his 350th Grand Prix start on social media, saying:
"Definitely still out of luck for us, another great weekend on performance point of view without a reward in points ( more than 60 already🙃). The good thing is that next weekend we will try again, and hopefully help the team with good points in one of my favorite tracks".
McLaren now hold a four-point lead over the French team in the battle for fourth place as the sport heads to Japan next weekend.
