It felt like a good shot to play and the formidable opportunist that he is, didn’t want to let that opportunity pass. Comfortable since the start of the weekend at this Melbourne circuit, Fernando Alonso continued in qualifying with the same momentum, won by Charles Leclerc. Fifth in Q1 as in Q2 behind the two Red Bulls and the two Ferraris, the bull from Asturias sounded the attack in Q3.
As the author of the absolute best second sector partition, he was on track to put in a good performance in an extremely tight qualifying. But when he stepped into his single-seater at Turn 11, the mechanics fell silent. Alonso had become a humble passenger in an Alpine with a flat electrocardiogram and couldn’t do anything to avoid going off the road and coming into contact with the guards. Q3 over, dream away.
“I think we had a hydraulic failure”he said at the end of the session. The engine failed, the gearbox and also the power steering. We will have to analyze all of this. It’s unbelievable all this bad luck that haunts us. I could aim for a great spot on the grid today (Saturday), maybe even pole and a podium in the race! It was my best start to the weekend in years! We can be proud of our level of performance, the car is getting better and better, but we have to solve these reliability issues. Plus it always falls on me, it’s super annoying. I’ll try to score a few points in the race, but we could aim so much higher…”
The two-time world champion, who has only two points left on the clock, does indeed act as a lightning rod at Alpine. Especially at the engine level, as it already uses its third power unit in as many races.
Spared by these concerns and in the points in the first two GPs, Esteban Ocon set eighth fastest time in qualifying and will therefore be placed ahead of the other Alpine on the grid, with Sainz’s Ferrari in between. “Since this morning I didn’t feel comfortable with the back of the carsaid the Norman. We made some set-up changes on Friday night but it didn’t work out, so finishing eighth in this context isn’t too bad. The potential is there. †
Eleventh in Q1 and tenth in Q2 Ocon has indeed maximized his potential this Saturday, but will have to race at the wheel of this car that is now not adapted to his hand. “It could be a bit the same story as in qualifyinghe went on, but the track will have changed and the tires won’t be the same so we’ll have to see. We will do with what we have in hand. We have learned a lot more about the car in all of this and that will help us in its further development, which will be crucial this season. † Proof that we continue to see life in pink on the Alpine side. Even with an F1 blue again.
