Fernando Alonso admits he backed off from attacking Sebastian Vettel at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix before pulling out of the race.
“I didn’t want to attack Seb,” said Alonso, who will replace Vettel at Aston Martin next year. “I just wanted to do a few laps on the back and enjoy it.”
Alonso was running 10th in the opening race until he made his first pit stop. He had just returned to 10th place when he pitted to retire. His team said they suspected a water leak in the car.
“Unfortunately, another engine problem,” Alonso told the media, including RaceFans. “So that’s a bit of a wrap-up for the year. Unfortunately at car 14, these things always happen, so one more.
“I’m happy to finish this chapter and start tomorrow morning with Aston with renewed motivation,” said Alpine.
“What the project is doing in terms of recruiting people, resources and investment is amazing. So I think the good times are coming so I can’t wait for next year.”
At this point in time, Alpine’s reliability is unacceptably poor, Alonso said. “There are facts that show we’re a little bit challenged in Car 14 this year,” he said. “Six DNFs [did not finish].
“But also [some that] They weren’t counted as DNFs but they were DNFs, like in Australia to qualify the problem, the Sprint race in Austria I didn’t even start the race and so on.
“So I think there are nine or 10 reliability [problems] At this stage it was already unacceptable and they all reached my car. So I’m happy to finish the seat tomorrow with Aston, the tire test on Tuesday and more luck with a new project.
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2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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