Fernando Alonso anticipates that Alpine’s battle with McLaren for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship will run to the final race in Abu Dhabi.
Alpine currently heads McLaren by 13 points, after overtaking the Woking-based squad following the recent race weekend in Japan.
Esteban Ocon crossed the line in fourth, while Alonso classified in seventh – McLaren meanwhile took home a solitary point with Lando Norris ending the grand prix in 10th.
The two teams have been separated by fine margins for much of the 2022 campaign, with four races remaining this season to decide the final order.
Alonso, who has claimed he has lost up to 60 points this year due to reliability issues, expects that the battle won’t be resolved until the last round in Abu Dhabi next month.
“I think there’s going to be some weekends that we can score a few more points than them,” Alonso said. “Some others, we will score less.
“I think Singapore [where both Alonso and Ocon retired] was standing out because it was a big loss in points there. But I think it’s going to be very, very tight until Abu Dhabi.”
Alonso has taken grid drops this year for taking on power unit elements outside of the penalty-free quota.
The Spaniard is currently on his fifth internal combustion engine, turbocharger and MGU-H, as well as his fourth MGU-K, Energy Store and Control Electronics.
Alonso is anticipating that he will have to take another engine penalty at one of the remaining four races this year.
“I mean, we are maybe not completely safe until the end of the year,” he said. “So, it is possible that we may have to introduce a power unit.”
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