After a disappointing start to the 2022 Formula 1 season, the Alpine team landed at the home of Fernando Alonso to put the negative dynamics behind them and start their own plan to hunt down the best on the grid.
Although it is a long-term project due to the fact that the heads of the French team have even stated that the goal is to win in 2024 or 2025, the two-time world champion wants to give his fans a great result in Barcelona.
The man from Oviedo managed to get excited with a fifth position in the first free practice session, although almost a second behind Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, and something similar happened in the second practice of the Spanish Grand Prix, with Fernando Alonso in sixth place, behind five tenths of the world leader.
When the Spaniard got off his A522, he gave his point of view on the first day at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: “Today has been a reasonable day for us. After the winter tests in February, we had to do some tests, because the car has changed a lot since then.
“We have tried to study some things and carry out our normal tire evaluation work,” Alonso continued. “We have collected some useful data, but it is clear that we have to continue to improve the car for tomorrow.”
Despite finishing in the top six overall, the Spaniard is not happy with how his car has performed: ” The balance isn’t perfect, so there’s more work to do tonight to make sure we’re as prepared as possible. ” for tomorrow’s qualifying. I liked seeing the stands full and I hope we can put on a good show tomorrow”.
Alonso was not the only one from the Alpine team who spoke after the two practice sessions, as the technical director of the Enstone team, Pat Fry , also did so: “It has been a relatively normal Friday without problems, in which we have completed a program mixing short and long runs.
“We are reasonably competitive in single lap pace, as we have been recently, but we have concentrated on experiments to improve our pace over long runs,” said the Briton.
“We have a lot of data to work with this afternoon,” he added. “It’s been a key area for us at the moment, and we’re trying different things to improve our pace on that front. The improvements we’ve brought to this race are relatively small steps but, they all count, they’re working well, and we’re happy.” with them so far this weekend.
