Alpine chief Otmar Szafnauer was blunt when dismissing the idea that Fernando Alonso has been "failed" by his team this season.
The Spaniard has looked quick all season in an A522 which is certainly capable of delivering some impressive results. Fifth at Silverstone was his best of the season, two weeks after he stunned the grid by qualifying on the front row alongside Max Verstappen for the Canadian Grand Prix.
But it has been far from smooth sailing for the 40-year-old. A prime example is that race in Montreal, which seemed destined to hold a big haul of points but was ruined by power loss which saw him drop from second to ninth.
And that was far from the only reliability issue that has cost him points this year. There were DNFs in Saudi Arabia and at Imola, while he crashed during a monster qualifying lap in Melbourne following a hydraulic failure.
Most recently, at the Austrian Grand Prix, his car took damage during qualifying but the defining moment came just before the Sprint. His car was left on the grid propped up on jacks with tyre warmers on his car while the rest of the drivers set off on the formation lap, while his engineers tried and failed to fix an electrical issue.
A frustrated Alonso vented after his latest misfortune, and said he was "proud of my own job" but cannot believe his bad luck in "a very strange season". He also made a slight dig over the much greater reliability enjoyed by team-mate Esteban Ocon, adding: "Reliability is good, Esteban's car is always good."
In response Szafnauer insisted that "it's not that we're failing Fernando" as he discussed the woes suffered by the Spanish driver. The Alpine chief told AS : "There are several reasons why he hasn't scored points. I remember the battle with Mick Schumacher [at Imola], a touch made a hole in the sidepod. His defence in Canada against [Valtteri] Bottas cost him a penalty, just like in Miami.
"Things like what happened on Saturday before the Sprint can happen to anyone. It's not an Alpine problem. We do not know what caused the problem, but everything indicates that it was a problem with the control unit, which is a part that we did not design, but that we bought.
"Failed on an Alpine car because of our installation? I doubt it. But we must understand what has happened. We have to solve all the little problems, so that they don't reappear in the car. But you never know what will be next, because otherwise it would already be resolved."
