Alonso: Fight for Australian GP pole was on before Alpine hydraulics problem

The Spaniard has looked strong all weekend, and had just set a purple middle sector time in the first runs in Q3 when an hydraulic problem shut down his car – pitching him off the track a few corners from the end of the lap.

Alonso reckoned there was nothing he could do as the accident left him 10th on the grid, as he said it ‘hurt’ just how unlucky he has been with mechanical problems this year.

“The gearbox was not working anymore,” he said. “The engine also switched off, power steering switched off. So I think there is something that we need to investigate when the car is back.

“It is unbelievable how unlucky we are, because 20 seconds later, maybe we were on pole if the car stops in Turn 1, instead of Turn 11. These races are difficult to explain.”

Alonso has no doubts that he had a car that could have taken pole position, as he urged his Alpine team to get to the bottom of the niggling reliability problems that have hit his side of the garage.

Asked if there was a genuine concern about the failures, Alonso said: “Only for my car it is a concern… the other car seems okay.

“That's why I say it is a little bit unlucky, because if we have a reliability problem on both cars, then they are facing issues. It could be something that we need to fix.

“But it seems quite random. And it is quite random on my car and in the moments that we are fast. In Bahrain when we were P9 or P10 maybe you don't care if the car stops because it's only one point, but in Jeddah we were okay and today top two or top three was guaranteed I think, and it hurts.”

Fernando Alonso, Alpine A522

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Alonso reckoned that before his crash, the weekend in Australia had been his best outing for years.

“I think the car is getting better and better,” he said. “We feel more confident. The team is working hard.

“I mean, maybe [it was] a surprise to fight for pole but not a surprise to be closer and closer to the leaders. I think yeah, it has been the best weekend for years for me, and it is so frustrating not to execute it at the end.”