Fernando Alonso makes podium claim following unlucky Australian Grand Prix

Alpine driver Fernando Alonso bemoaned his bad luck on Sunday with him revealing he felt as though a podium could have been achieved had things gone differently for him at the Australian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard already had misfortune stemming from Saturday after an issue sent him into the barriers when he was on a lap that could have challenged for pole position, and he instead started the race in 10th.

Then, during the Grand Prix, a Safety Car caused by Sebastian Vettel having a chat with the barrier scuppered his strategy with tyres.

Indeed, Alonso revealed after the race he felt as though a podium could have been achieved had things worked out differently, and he just hopes luck is going to change for him when we get to Imola in two weeks from now:

“We were looking for P6 or P7, starting on the hard tyre on the reverse [strategy], which was good, starting in tenth.

“[It was] the Safety Car in the wrong moment of the race that was our killer, so I’m a little bit speechless because I think today, we could have been on the podium, to be honest.

“If we qualified third or fourth yesterday, with Max [Verstappen] out, George in the podium – I think we’ve been a little bit faster than the Mercedes this weekend.

“So we lost that opportunity here, also in Jeddah where we were doing a very good race.

“So this is the way it is at the moment, a little bit unlucky. Twenty races to go, in some of them I will be super lucky, I guess.

“Let’s see. I think it’s going to be a real test for us because [Imola is] slower compared to the last two events.

“We will see if we can keep this performance, but we need to see also in Imola, we will see some upgrades for everyone I guess, so we will see how fast we can be.”