A season of twenty-two grands prix is full of “what ifs…”, it is understood that unexpected retirements are often offset by strokes of fortune throughout a campaign. But it is notorious that the 2022 of Alonso he will be remembered more for his individual performance behind the wheel of the Alpine A522 than for what the World Cup classification conveys. Without a podium to shine the course that he did achieve in 2021 (Qatar), Ocon is eighth in the table with 82 points to Fernando’s 71. Unless Interlagos (with sprint) and Yas Marina remedy it in the next ten days, the Frenchman will finish ahead of the Asturian in the table: a blur in the statistics (only Button surpassed him in points with the same car, 2015; Hamilton equaled in 2007) which does not correspond to what was seen on the track, but It is a direct consequence of a campaign full of exclusive breakdowns “of the car ’14″ that have not occurred on the other side of the garage.
Alonso estimates that he has lost around 60 points this year due to unreliability. The count is cumulative: slight engine problems in Bahrain (he finished 9th), a breakdown in Arabia when he would have been 6th, a hydraulic failure in Australia when he was aiming for the top-3 on the grid, a breakdown in the electrical part when he had started second in Canada (he was 9th), the car did not start in the sprint in Austria and after the summer break, the climax: three broken engines when fighting for the top-6 in Italy, Singapore and Suzuka. Ocon has only had one retirement due exclusively to the power unit and it was in Singapore, but he was out of the points. He also retired in Great Britain with a fuel pump problem, at the time he was running eighth.
Alonso’s numbers are capricious beyond the balance of points given away. The two-time champion averages 9th place in qualifying and has been in the top-10 on 15 of 20 grids. In all the races that he has finished without mechanical shocks, his average position is 7.25. However, in the World Cup he is ninth. By contrast, Ocon he averages 11.6th place on Saturdays with 9 of 20 appearances in the top-10; Y his average result in the race, eliminating breakdowns and retirements, is 9.31. But the classification says something else, Ocon is eighth.
Curiously, Alonso also averages better results on Sundays than the seventh in question, Norris (8.2 on the grid with 14 out of 20 appearances in the top-10; 7.89 in the race without dropouts or breakdowns). But the Englishman has only dropped points in Canada and Belgium, two high-speed circuits that were not suitable for a McLaren that has stood out for its high reliability. He is comfortable seventh in the Drivers’ World Championship with 111 points unattainable for the two Enstone drivers. Meanwhile, Alpine defends fourth place in the constructors’ championship (153 points) to Woking’s (146) thanks to one small detail: Ricciardo has barely scored 35 points so far. With a propellant that was not so fragile, that fight would have ended several months ago and the pulse between Ocon and Alonso, who leaves the team at the end of the year for Aston Martin, may as well.