Fernando Alonso achieved his best result of the season at Silverstone and hopes to continue along the same path at the Red Bull Ring, where the second weekend will be held in a sprint format. Alpine predicts a competitive A522 at this circuit.
Slowly, Alpine is finding the solidity that it has lacked at the beginning of the season, although reliability continues to affect its drivers. At Silverstone, Esteban Ocon had to leave with fuel pump problems, but Fernando Alonso now has five consecutive races in the points, to six for the Anglo-French team.
In fact, Fernando Alonso He achieved the best result of the year on British soil, a fifth place, which he aspires to repeat in Austria. “Silverstone was a good result for us and I enjoyed fighting close to the front in the closing laps. We have to be happy with fifth place. I think it was my best weekend so far in terms of overall competitiveness and the result.”
“Our car has performed relatively well in medium to high speed corners, which is key to this track”
“We were competitive in all conditions. It’s a good sign for us and something we can build on for the next couple of weekends. The improvements we made to the car seem to be working well and it is a credit to the efforts of everyone in Enstone and Viry”, he added.
Sprint Race Weekend
Alpine remains just five points behind McLaren, who are fourth in the constructors’ championship, and Fernando Alonso is confident of maintaining his level this weekend at the Red Bull Ring, a circuit that appears simple but is actually very difficult.
“I hope we can pick up where we left off at Silverstone. It’s a ‘back to back’, so we have to keep the energy levels up. Fortunately, the circuits are not too far away, so travel is not a big factor this time..
“As the lap is short at the Red Bull Ring, it is always very close and qualifying is often compressed between several cars. A small mistake or loss of time can be the difference between Q2 and Q3»points out Fernando Alonso.
After the first experience of the year in Imola, this weekend Formula 1 celebrates its second weekend with a Sprint format, which is especially motivating for Fernando Alonso on a circuit with the characteristics of the Austrian.
“It’s also a Sprint qualifying weekend, and I think the track will be quite good for this format because it is possible to overtake there. I want to keep adding points. It’s different, because you only have one practice session to perfect the set-up of the car before qualifying.”
“We had this situation last weekend at Silverstone due to the mixed weather. But we have to adapt to this format. We’ve had enough Sprint qualifying races already, so we’re pretty familiar with it. I also prefer more points to be offered in this new format as it makes it more meaningful.”says Alonso.
A good circuit for the Alpine A522
Alpine is also hoping to perform well at Spielberg, as the circuit features the kind of corners where the A522 proves most competitive.
“Spielberg is a short circuit with only nine corners and our car has performed relatively well in medium to high speed corners this seasonwhich is a key attribute of this track,” explains Otmar Szafnauer.
The Alpine team manager points out that “The updates we introduced at Silverstone worked as expected and gave us a boost in performance on the track. Austria is the second Sprint event of the year and we’ll need to settle down quickly with a practice session on Friday before qualifying.”
On Austrian soil, the weather is always unpredictable, but Szafnauer believes that Alpine will be competitive in any circumstance. “I am fully confident that by Sunday we can get quite a few points. The weather can be unpredictable there and I think we have the ability to do well in Austria, come rain or shine.”he concludes.
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Photos: Alpine F1 Team