"Luck has deserted us all year" - Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso has not had a good time over the last few races. He stirred up quite a storm at the Turkish Grand Prix after he implied that the stewards were selective in dishing out penalties. The lead-up to the race, however, was more fulfilling for the Spaniard as he qualified in P6.

The race was a different story as Alonso tangled with Pierre Gasly in the first corner and plummeted down the order. Things got worse when he punted Mick Schumacher and was handed a five-second time penalty for his role in the incident.

Alonso eventually finished the race in a lowly 16th place, out of the points-paying positions and a lap down.

Reflecting on the disappointing race, Fernando Alonso remarked:

"The (Alpine F1) package is lacking in all areas. It’s frustrating that when we are not competitive, we have a very boring race, and when we are competitive, we have crazy weather and crazy things happening. We’ve been historically, this year, a little bit less competitive on the intermediate tires, and the whole race was intermediate. We didn’t even put the dry tires on, so we need to improve our competitive level on that compound. But it’s frustrating and disappointing.”

Commenting on the incident with Mick Schumacher, Alonso said:

"We touched each other, unfortunately, he had the spin and I got the penalty. I take it, of course, because I’m sorry to have the collision with him. That happened only because I was P14. I shouldn’t have been, but the luck seems to keep avoiding us this year big time. I think it was an unlucky race for us. We qualified so well, P5 for the first time this year, and we were P5 for only 200 meters. After that, we were already facing backward."

Is Fernando Alonso's frustration a throwback to the McLaren days?

Fernando Alonso's performances this year have been nothing short of remarkable, considering the tools at his disposal. It's understandable where his frustrations are coming from as the Spaniard who, for all his driving abilities, is left to to fight for scraps most of the time.

He faced a similar situation at McLaren, where the car was simply never worthy of his talent, leading to frustrations and frequent outbursts over the team radio and in the media. Are we looking at a situation where Fernando Alonso is once again getting frustrated and beginning to question the point of fighting for just a point or two every race? It'll be interesting to see what lies in store for Fernando Alonso and Alpine over the remainder of the season, and possibly beyond.