Just when everything seemed to be going better than ever for the Spanish Alpine driver, a hydraulic failure at turn 11 of the revamped Albert Park circuit sent him straight into the wall on his first attempt at Q3.
The third race of the season was coming, of a 2022 in which Alpine and Fernando Alonso have deposited high hopes after a first year with a renewed project after leaving behind the vestige of ‘Renault’ to evolve on all levels.
see each other obliged to use the third power unit already on this occasion, the last legally possible before going on to penalize ten positions when equipping the fourth at some point in the season, was not a good omen on the return to Albert Park , but the A522 proved to be competitive in Melbourne in the hands of a Fernando Alonso who, once again, was left wanting more.
frustrated early riser
After passing through Q2 with solvency, both he and his teammate, Esteban Ocon, after the FIA eliminated one of the four DRS activation zones that they had devised for this Grand Prix, Alonso proceeded to see first-hand how far he could go aboard his single-seater.
haunt the Top 5 Until now, the confidence of #14 had increased until, unfortunately and suddenly, the Asturian found himself against the wall at the moment of truth.
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“Fuck! Fuck! I lost the hydraulic system, I couldn’t change gear»a frustrated Alonso confessed over the radio to his team after going into the guards on the outside of Turn 11 with no option to reverse it.
The resumption of the session minutes later did not allow Ocon to even get past eighth position, closing a lap in the same tenth as Daniel Ricciardo, in 1:19, while the other Spaniard, Carlos Sainz, described it as “*** disaster” a classification in which he finally had to settle for 9th place.
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Waiting to see whether or not Alpine has a good race pace on Sunday, the one that was going to be the third best team of the weekend must settle, at least for now, with closing the Top 10 on the grid.