Fernando Alonso has been left ruing a missed opportunity for the BWT Alpine F1 Team at the Mexico City Grand Prix, as a late retirement for the Spaniard saw Alpine miss out on their eleventh double points finish of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.
Starting from ninth-place on the Medium tyre, Alonso was able to overtake both Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas to run in seventh-place by the end of the opening lap. The two-time World Champion would remain largely unchallenged by Bottas, as the Finnish driver was unable to break the one-second barrier to gain the advantage of DRS.
Alonso undertook his only pit-stop of the race on lap thirty-nine as he switched to the Hard compound of tyre, in an attempt to see out a one-stop strategy. The Alpine driver was soon back in seventh-place and at one time would even hold a near ten-second advantage over his team-mate, who was able to get ahead of Bottas and into eighth-place.
Alonso’s advantage over Esteban Ocon would soon disappear, as he lost a cylinder on the engine of his A522, stunting any possible progress left in the race for Alonso. On lap sixty, Alonso would allow Ocon to pass him on the start/finish straight as the Frenchman was locked in battle with Daniel Ricciardo. Just four laps later, the Spaniard was forced to pull up just after turn one, as the damage sustained to his engine was deemed to be too severe by the Alpine team.
After a potential ninth-place finish was taken away from Alonso with six laps remaining in the Grand Prix, the Spaniard spoke on his disappointment to leave the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez empty-handed.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t finish the race today after a strong start, good stints, which meant we looked set to score some good points. I felt very fast in both stints, first on the Mediums and then with the Hard tyres. However, we lost a cylinder on the engine with 18 laps to go, which eventually forced us to stop the car despite our best efforts.
“Austin and Mexico were two very good weekends for me, and it’s a pity we didn’t score the points we deserved. We have two more race weekends to go, and we need to make sure we score more points in our battle for fourth position.”
Esteban Ocon: “It was a tough race for the team today“
Despite Esteban Ocon coming home for a ninth-place finish around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, the Frenchman has spoken on his disappointment to not be leaving Mexico City with a bigger points haul.
Ocon would start the race on the Medium tyre, a place behind his team-mate in tenth, and was able to get ahead of Norris and into ninth-place by the end of the opening lap.
The Alpine driver would hold onto ninth-place throughout the remainder of his first stint and after pitting on lap thirty-three, Ocon would rejoin the grid in thirteenth place on the Hard compound of tyre.
Ocon was able to work his way through the field on his new set of tyres and ten laps later would rejoin the points-paying positions. Sixty laps into the race and Ocon was starting to look over his shoulder as Ricciardo, on the Soft compound tyre, was chasing down the Frenchman.
With Alonso’s engine suffering due to the loss of a cylinder, the Spaniard would allow Ocon to pass him in an attempt to bridge a gap between Ocon and Ricciardo, but the fast-moving Ricciardo was able to get Alonso at the same time and just a lap later the McLaren F1 Team driver would make the pass on the Alpine driver.
Ricciardo’s ten-second time penalty would prove to not affect his final standing, after the Australian was able to build a gap of over ten seconds between himself and Ocon, leaving the Alpine driver with an eighth-place finish.
Speaking on his race around the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Ocon remarked that a cooling issue towards the end of the race, left him with little chance of being able to fend off Ricciardo to hold onto seventh-place.
“It was a tough race for the team today. We were on for an important, double points finish before Fernando’s unfortunate retirement. On my side, we were struggling with cooling issues towards the latter half of the race and we had to manage that, which meant we couldn’t match the pace of the McLarens at the end, narrowly missing out on catching Daniel’s [Ricciardo] time penalty.
“We come away with some points, but we need to ensure these issues don’t happen again if we are to stay fourth in the championship.”
