Fernando Alonso PU problems "luck of the draw"

Alpine - Fernando Alonso

Alonso PU problems "luck of the draw"

Alonso has dropped significant points due to poor reliability this season

Sam Hall

Wednesday 9 November 2022 13:30

Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer has conceded that nothing other than "luck of the draw" is to blame for Fernando Alonso's persistent power unit problems this season.

Alonso retired from the Mexico City Grand Prix after a cylinder issue caused a terminal failure in his engine.

It was his fifth DNF of the season, with an electrical failure prior to the Austrian sprint race resulting in a failure to start.

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Following his latest issue, Alonso gave up on hiding his frustrations and conceded to counting down the days before he joins Aston Martin after again questioning why it is always the number 14 car that appears to suffer problems.

“This was an engine issue and we don’t have the same people preparing an Esteban engine or a Fernando engine now," said Szafnauer. "They mix around.

“So although the probability is lower [of one driver suffering more], the probability of this happening isn’t zero, so it can happen. But it is lower to always happen on one side or the other."

Alonso struggles a BAR throwback

The plight of Alonso is nothing new to Szafnauer, however, with the Romanian-American experiencing the same predicament at BAR in 2004.

In that year, Jenson Button stormed to third in the championship while Takuma Sato suffered endless reliability issues.

“I remember when I was at Honda, I can’t remember how many engine failures Takuma Sato had – like 13 in a year – and Jenson Button had none, zero," Szfnauser added.

"The question always came up [of what the drivers were doing differently] but we couldn’t find anything to show that one side or the other.

“And at that point, the questions were always ‘Does Takuma drive it so much differently than Jenson that it always happens on his side?’.

“I think it was just the luck of the draw, so it’s the luck of the draw.”