With “The Plan” as the flag, Alpine arrived at the first race of the season at the Bharein Grand Prix with the desire to leave behind the bittersweet feelings of the preseason and show that they had taken that great step forward that they promised so much.
In qualifying, Fernando Alonso managed to reach the last round (Q3), while Esteban Ocon was left on the verge of it. In the race and thanks in large part to the late retirements of Gasly, Verstappen and Pérez, both cars crossed the finish line in the points positions.
A week later and a few hours before the start of the second event of 2022 in Saudi Arabia, the Spanish Alpine driver confirmed the words of the team’s CEO, who said after the race in Sakhir that they were really satisfied with what they had seen despite being still far from head.
“More or less happy? We came to Bahrain with no clear idea of where we were in terms of performance and we went into Q3 almost with both cars ( Ocon was 11th). And then we got double points for the team. So we have to be happy and proud.”
“In Barcelona, we were struggling a bit with everything, but then in Bahrain everything was better. The first few races will be interesting to see where and how fast we are,” he added.
Alonso acknowledged that despite being satisfied with his performance, the distance from the leaders is not what he wanted and explained that they are already working to reduce it in the coming weeks.
“We were 1.2 seconds off the leaders so we’ve been trying to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the car to bring some developments as soon as possible. I think there’s still work to be done on the car. Everybody will improve a lot in the next two or three months, we know that we have to take a bigger step if we want to fight for better things”.
Beyond the single-seater, the Asturian was very positive with the step forward of the Renault power unit, which he believes has nothing to envy Honda , Mercedes and Ferrari.
“We have definitely taken a very big step. Not only in power, but also in the concept, it is a completely different engine. This project took a lot of work for a year and a half or something like that, I think they did a very good job and we are happy with them.” results”.
“I think we are all very similar, I don’t think we have a big disadvantage or a big advantage with anyone.”
In 2021, the Jeddah Circuit was criticized for its dangerousness, something that caused a series of changes to the layout about which the Asturian does not seem to be very convinced.
Yes, I think that after practice we will have a better opinion. I only did one reconnaissance lap yesterday, it doesn’t seem like it’s a big change, but maybe it will make a bigger difference to the car, so let’s wait and see.”
