How unlucky was Alonso really in F1 2021?

But how unlucky was he really in 2021?

At Istanbul Park, Alonso shone in qualifying and managed to start fifth, but during a rain start he was spun around at Turn 1 by AlphaTauris Pierre Gasly, sandwiched between Alonso and Red Bulls Sergio Perez.

Alonso tried to get in touch with Haas driver Mick Schumacher after a late divebomb, for which the Spaniard received a five-second time penalty.

On a day when the mixed conditions offered opportunities for big goals, Alonso’s incidents prevented him from climbing higher than a distant 16. It led him to say that “luck seems to have been avoiding us again and again this year.

I think we’re collecting a lot for next year. “

Alonso’s comments may sound strange after seeing a solid comeback season with the newly built Alpine team, in which he outperforms teammate Esteban Ocon – who is usually extremely important in his book – and Alpine at the helm of AlphaTauri and Aston Martin is in fifth place.

But it’s not so much the championship standings that Alonso seems to have on his mind, but a slew of missed opportunities to win or at least get back on the podium on his comeback, backing up his claim that at 40 he’s a better driver than he was when he won his two world titles in 2005 and 2006.

In Hungary’s insane rainy weather race, Alonso said he was lucky enough to escape the hand-to-hand combat at Turn 1 that knocked out several competitors, but believed he had the pace to win.

However, after losing his position on the track to teammate Esteban Ocon, he was banished from a wingman role which he performed brilliantly while holding Lewis Hamilton’s faster Mercedes while Ocon secured his maiden win.

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A521, returns after a spin on the first lap

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

In the end, Alonso couldn’t stop Hamilton from finally asserting himself, which set him back from an elusive podium finish in fourth.

After Spa’s mess, the next wet races offered Alonso new opportunities to capitalize on the chaos.

At the Sochi Grand Prix he was in sixth place when it started to rain and climbed to third place under the difficult conditions.

But like the former front runner Lando Norris, Alonso delayed his stopover by one lap too much and lost another podium place and fell back to sixth place at the finish.

Then came the Turkish Grand Prix, which for Alonso was practically over before it started.

In any case, Istanbul would have been the most unlikely podium finish of them all, as all four Mercedes and Red Bull cars finished in the top five.

Oddly enough, Alonso’s frustration doesn’t stem from the fact that he couldn’t capitalize on rainy conditions on non-competitive weekends, which is the mantra of every midfielder and backmarker in F1.

He explains that wet races tended to fall on the exact weekends when Alpine was strongest, but circumstances prevented him from getting the most out of them, while Alpine’s less competitive weekends produced a more predictable result.

“It’s frustrating that we have a very boring race when we’re not competitive,” he told Autosport after the race in Turkey.

“And when we’re competitive, we have crazy weather, crazy things happen.”

Fernando Alonso, Alpine F1, on the grid

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

It mirrored his comments in Sochi where he claimed, “We are never lucky” and that “every point we got this year is deserved, we never had any presents this year, so I’m proud of every point that I got this year. “

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Unlucky or not is up for debate, but Alonso can find solace in his Enstone team starting to find their way around and looking competitive for two straight weekends, which it didn’t really manage earlier this year.

Far from matching its rival McLaren’s 2020 uptrend, Alpine is stagnating, betting that the 2022 rules revision will get right to take the next step.

Alonso himself claims he’s almost back to his best after securing his best spot since his comeback.

“This weekend I would say yes. In Sochi it was a bit up and down with the weather and dry tires at the end,” he said.

“I think there is a little more to come, but I’m definitely more confident now.”