With the exception of the contested race at Imola, Alpine F1 has consistently finished in the top 10 with at least one of its two cars this season. And this good consistency was praised by its driver Fernando Alonso in Zandvoort.
But the double world champion, who won a fine fifth place last weekend in Belgium, believes that his team can do even better by the end of the season.
« We had a few races where we were unlucky, even in the current good series. We started last in Barcelona, and in Austria the car didn’t start for the Sprint, which sent us back to the back of the grid. So we need clean weekends without any problems on Saturday and Sunday, which will allow us to score even more points. »
After a somewhat sluggish start to the season, disturbed in particular by numerous reliability problems, Alpine F1 has been able to progress thanks to its development and it now seems to be in the best position to finish with the honorary title of « best of the others » in the championship of builders.
Alonso, for his part, considers that the progress made by his team in 2022 has been « Very impressive. We started the season a little nervous in Bahrain after experiencing ups and downs in terms of performance during winter testing. But from Jeddah or Melbourne, the team started to score dots constantly. »
« The engine is also much more efficient than last year, we had some reliability issues but we accept it with this performance gain. We are now fighting for fourth place in the championship against McLaren, which was unexpected in the beginning of the year, so we are doing better than we expected. »
In Zandvoort, Alonso is a big fan of « The atmosphere is of course thanks to Max (Verstappen). But I also like the city and everything around the circuit, it’s going to be a great weekend. »
Hamilton offers a Mercedes cap to Alonso
As he promised earlier today, and after publicly apologizing, Alonso did visit Lewis Hamilton at Zandvoort after the Spaniard treated his opponent “idiot” at Spa following their collision in the first lap.
If the reunion between the two men was not captured by the cameras, the Spaniard was seen leaving the Mercedes F1 motorhome with a cap from the German brand, on which the seven-time world champion wrote « For Fernando. »
And according to Hamilton, the episode of Spa now seems to be definitely closed.
« It was quite fun with the cap. It’s good to know how to have fun about these things and I will continue to do so. I’m constantly trying to become a better driver. »
« Also, I know that a lot of people, young and old but certainly a lot of children, follow me, and it’s important to show what I’m doing to improve my behavior. I’m always trying to learn and improve. ‘to improve. »
Alonso for his part posted a photo of him and Hamilton on his Instagram account via his stories, on which he is arm in arm with his counterpart while holding the cap which was offered to him.
“Yes, it’s mine,” he also wrote.
