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Despite having scored just two points, Fernando Alonso says 2022 is his best start to a championship in “terms of competitiveness of the last 10 years”.

The double World Champion has managed just one top-ten showing so far this season, P9 at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

He has as many retirements as he does points, out of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix due to a water pump failure and retiring from the Emilia Romagna race when a chuck of his sidepod broke off having been tagged by Mick Schumacher on the opening lap.

But when he has been running, he has shown pace.

The Alpine driver has been in Q3 at all four race weekends, qualifying a season high P5 at Imola.

As such he insists it has probably been one of his “best” starts to a season in a decade.

“Obviously it feels a little bit strange to have two points in the championship after having probably my best start to the season in terms of competitiveness of the last 10 years, maybe from 2012,” he said. “I was not as competitive as I felt in these first four races.

“So yeah, we’ve been, I think extremely unlucky with some of the events that happen.

“A very easy six in Saudi, obviously the problems in Melbourne with qualifying and then in the race, and then again, in lap one in Imola we were out of the race.

“So yeah, it’s a matter of time that the result will come. I