Alpine ‘just as frustrated as Fernando Alonso’ with lack of points

Alpine boss Laurent Rossi said the team are “as frustrated” as Fernando Alonso, given the two-time World Champion’s lack of points this season.

Alonso only has two points to his name after five promising races to start the year, with his and Alpine’s pace appearing to be in the upper midfield overall.

But having retired through no fault of his own in Saudi Arabia and Imola, coupled with unlucky timing of the Safety Car in Australia that left him last on the road having been in the hunt for pole, his only top-10 result came in the season opener in Bahrain.

As a result, there’s work to be done for Rossi and Alpine to help Alonso get back on track.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Rossi told reporters when presented with the idea that the team’s pace isn’t reflected in their points tally.

“So the mood is we keep our head down and we work. We need to convert that decent qualifying pace into like a consistent, sustainable race pace that we didn’t manage to get, to be honest, in the first few races. And that’s why we didn’t get the points.

“It’s just a matter of trade-offs and setting [up] your car differently.”

Alonso himself feels like, in terms of driving, he’s started the year at his best level since the 2012 season, and has voiced his frustration at not being as high up the standings as he knows he probably should be, admitting that it feels “strange” in his position at the moment.

When presented with Alonso’s words, Rossi agreed that the Spaniard has had his fair share of bad luck so far in 2022.

“Oh, yeah, of course. We are as frustrated as he is. I’m frustrated,” he stated. “He has only two points, I think, and it’s always been like… if you ask people they probably think he’s fourth in the championship because he’s always up there. So, it’s been fairly unlucky.

“All of the glitches that we encountered, and/or problems on the track were almost constantly on this side.

“So hopefully, the tables are going…