Fernando Alonso Insists There’s More to Come After Disappointing Bahrain GP on F1 Comeback

When news broke that two-time world champion Fernando Alonso would be making his comeback to F1 with newly rebranded Alpine this season, his fans rejoiced. Adding to their joy was the fact that he would be returning with the team he won both his champions with, which also raised the expectations from his return. Unfortunately, his comeback at the season-opener in Bahrain didn’t end well.

That said, the Spanish driver did start off decently, as he took ninth place in Saturday’s qualifying session. However, he only managed to get in 32 laps during the actual race, before he had to retire due to brake issues that were caused by a “sandwich bag.”

Alonso stated that even though he was not feeling 100%, he was happy to have had some battles on the track. The Spanish further stated that he just needs to find the pace to extract the most out of the car.

Fernando Alonso states that he needs to find more confidence

In the post-race interview, the 39-year-old said, “Well, I probably disagree with that, I was not at my 100%, I’m sure of that. It was nice, we had a couple of good battles, some of them they were happy ending, some of them they were not because we’d been overtaken.

“But I need to find more pace from myself, I find more confidence, I need to extract more from the car, from the brakes, execute the start better. It was not too bad but I think there’s a lot of room to improve for my side.”

“Even the pitstops, I think the guys did an amazing job but my position for example, in the second pitstop was not right, so there’s small things and small mistakes that I keep doing from testing and this first race.

“Hopefully by race two, three, I can perform better.” Alonso concluded.

Not the best start for Alpine in their new chapter

The France-based outfit were hoping they would hit the ground running in the opening round in Bahrain. And since Alonso qualified ninth in the race, they had even higher hopes, possibly looking to score some points.

However, things didn’t go to plan for Alpine, to say the least. While their championship-winning driver had to retire the car due to brake issues, their second driver, Esteban Ocon, saw the checkered flag at 13th position. Hence, neither driver managed to get some much-needed points for the team.

The second round for the 2021 season will take place at Imola. Can Alonso and Ocon do a better job in Italy and hope they can earn some points for the team? Let us know in the comments below.

Also Read: Fernando Alonso ‘Will Not Accept’ Losing to Ocon at Alpine Warns Webber