‘Pity as we’ve been very competitive all weekend’: Otmar Szafnauer rues similar PU issues which ruined Alpine’s Singapore GP
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Otmar Szafnauer
Alpine had a weekend to forget in Singapore. In fact, even Monza was not all that great for them, and the team have not scored any points in the past two races, after having scored double points for five races in a row before that. Moreover, their double retirement last time out meant that McLaren have once again surged ahead of them in the championship, albeit by 4 points.
Both Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were forced to retire from the race before the halfway mark. While Ocon at that point was only P13, Alonso was being hustled by position for Max Verstappen and coming out on top. That was until he lost power, and went into the escape route. That was that.
But as for the Frenchman, it was quite a bit more ‘spectacular’ as his A522’s engine blew up. This weekend has certainly put a large dent in their big for P4 and will be a big insult to injury, especially after McLaren have already taken their most prized asset (that was not on the main team): Oscar Piastri.
Otmar Szafnauer: “These days happen from time to time,”
Alpine’s team principal, Otmar Szafnauer thinks that it was a similar issue for both cars that ruined their evening in Singapore. He said: “A pity as we’ve been very competitive all weekend. It looks like we suffered a similar power unit issue on both cars which we will investigate in detail. It’s important we identify the root cause of what happened and put preventative measures in place to avoid a repeat.”
As per PlanetF1, Szafnauer added: “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.”
Now, the team will shift focus to Japan: “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. As a team, we’ll take this one in our stride and we already look forward to returning to Suzuka and racing at a fantastic circuit.”
Japan will be an exciting weekend for Formula 1 – with Max Verstappen possibly sealing his title with a win there, but it will also be very crucial for the midfield battle between Alpine and McLaren. The French team must recover the deficit now, lest Lando Norris and co. run away with it.
Also Read: Fernando Alonso all-set to break Kimi Raikkonen’s record of 349 GP starts in Singapore
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Aniket Tripathi
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