Fernando Alonso feels that his Renault powered Alpine has one of the strongest power-units this season, just behind Ferrari and Red Bull’s.
Alonso’s start to the 2022 season has been a little rocky. He finished ninth in Bahrain and was forced to retire his car in the following outing at the Saudi Arabian GP.
His teammate Esteban Ocon meanwhile, has brought more out of the Alpine car. The Frenchman finished seventh and sixth in the opening two races respectively.
Alonso feels that the team’s performances have shown that they have a lot of potential. While they aren’t on par with Red Bull or Ferrari, the Spaniard insists that they’re one of the best of the rest.
P6! Happy with today and leaving with more points in the bag. Enjoyed the wheel-to-wheel racing with Fernando and I’m sure there will be more of that this season! A shame we couldn’t put both cars in the points but we’re showing we’re competitive and that’s what’s important. pic.twitter.com/cmxVEqHpv9
— Esteban Ocon (@OconEsteban) March 27, 2022
He highlighted the fact that both he and Ocon could easily pass the Mercedes powered cars in the previous round in Jeddah. As the season progresses, Alonso expects them to get only better, and push for bigger places.
Alpine spent the first half of 2021, massively lagging behind others in the midfield. This year however, Alonso feels that they’re right in the mix from the get go.
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Fernando Alonso impressed by Alpine’s straight line speed performance
One of the things Alpine got right this year is their straight line speed. Alonso went on to talk about how easy it was to overtake the Aston Martins and McLarens on the main straight with the help of DRS, something which troubled them last year.
“We are very happy with the performance of our engine. We believe that we are playing in the same league as the others from this year,” the 40-year old said.
That’s P4 in the Championship, and a ✨ ✨on track battle to match.#SaudiArabianGP @alo_oficial @oconesteban pic.twitter.com/042xbzAOhA
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) March 27, 2022
“Also we were able to fight on the straights with the others in Jeddah and Bahrain. Let’s wait and see if that is confirmed. The Ferrari engine and the Honda are still a little ahead, but Renault is there. We lack a second reference team but the data is encouraging.”
Alpine are heading into the 2022 Australian GP, fourth in the standings. Ahead of them are the traditional big guns, Ferrari, followed by Red Bull and Mercedes.
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