Alpine’s Fernando Alonso believes he could have defeated Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc in the F1 Australian Grand Prix qualifying to win pole position if he hadn’t crashed due to mechanical trouble.
The two F1 World Champions broke through Q1 and Q2 in 5th place and advanced to the final Q3, then made a personal best in the first sector of the first measurement lap and the overall best in the second sector to the provisional pole. I went to.
However, it collided with the barrier on turn 11 of the final sector. A522 damaged the left side of the car body. Alonso frustrated over the radio that he couldn’t shift down as a result of the loss of oil pressure. The gearbox, engine, and power steering were lost.
Team representative Otmar Szafnauer said, “We will investigate the problem that caused his accident,” and the exact cause of the trouble has not yet been clarified.
Looking back at the qualifying, Alonso didn’t try to hide his disappointment, saying, “I’m incredibly unlucky. If the trouble happened 20 seconds late, I might have been at Paul.”
“I’m unlucky because I’m only concerned about my car. If they both have reliability issues, they should face the problem. It feels irregular and whatever. I have to deal with it, but for some reason it only happens when it’s fast. “
“In Bahrain (where the water pump had a problem), even if I finished, I was in 9th or 10th place, so it’s okay if the car stops. Jeddah, but today I was guaranteed 2nd and 3rd place. is”
Alonso described the Australian Grand Prix as “the best weekend for me in the last few years” and added that “the car is getting better and more confident and the team is working hard”. ..
“We have to watch if the car that returns to the garage needs changes that could lead to a penalty.”
“Now we’re pretty close to pole position, it doesn’t matter if tomorrow’s race is a few points, but sooner or later we should be on the podium. We have enough performance.”
The pole position is Charles Leclerc (Ferrari). Max Verstappen was second, Sergio Perez was third, and Red Bull Racing siege Leclerc.
The 2022 F1 Australian Grand Prix final race will start at 14:00 on Sunday, April 10th, Japan time. Compete for the championship by making 58 laps around the 5,279m Albert Park Circuit.