The Alpine F1 Team, who contested the final race of the 17th round of the F1 Singapore GP, suffered the first W retirement of the season and finished without any points in two consecutive races, resulting in McLaren losing 4th place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Fernando Alonso, who celebrated his 350th start in F1, had a great defense against Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and retained 6th place, but retired on the 21st lap. Teammate Esteban Ocon followed suit on lap 27.
Otmar Szafnauer, Team Principal, said of the cause of the retirement, “Both cars seem to have the same problem with the power unit, and we will investigate in detail from now on. We will identify the root cause and taking measures to prevent a recurrence. is important,” he explained.
“It’s a shame to retire twice today at the Singapore Grand Prix, after being very competitive all weekend.”
“As the race progressed, the conditions were challenging as the track surface turned dry.
“Sometimes things like this happen in the world of racing. There is a bit of disappointment in the team, but next weekend we have the race in Japan and we have a chance to make up for it.”
“As a team, we are taking this situation very seriously. Now we are looking forward to returning to Suzuka for the first time in a while and racing on a great circuit.”
This is the third time this year that Alonso has been forced to retire. The points lost due to a number of misfortunes such as technical difficulties and safety cars are immeasurable.
After the race, Alonso posted on his Instagram story: “In terms of performance, this is my best season but it hurts to think that I have lost more than 60 points to reliability issues so far.”
Alpine: Singapore F1 GP Final
Fernando AlonsoFinal: Retired / Grid: 5th
It’s a shame I have to retire early. We lost a lot of championship points because of it.
On the other hand, I am positive that our performance this weekend is something to be proud of. We were fighting for fifth and sixth place on Saturday and today’s race was similar.
The race was held in difficult conditions. It was hard to find a dry line that appeared on the track.
We’ve got another race next weekend, so let’s jump in and shift our focus to Japan, where we’ll aim for points again.
Esteban OconFinal: Retired / Grid: 17th
It was a frustrating day for the team.
On my side, the race ended early due to a problem with the power unit. The team is investigating the exact cause of the malfunction.
Of course it is very disappointing to leave Singapore with a double retirement, but on a positive note all weekend the car performed well and the pace was good.
Next week is my favorite race at Suzuka. I want to change my mind and come back stronger in Japan.
Sergio Perez (Red Bull) won the last race of the tumultuous GP Round 17 Singapore F1 2022, where six cars were forced to retire. Charles Leclerc finished second, followed by Carlos Sainz and Ferrari on the podium in third.
The next round, the Japanese GP, which will be staged at the Suzuka Circuit, will start with free practice 1 on Friday, October 7th.
