Fernando Alonso Puts Alpine on Par With Ferrari & Mercedes After Bahrain GP Results

The 2022 season has begun with Charles Leclerc winning the season opener with his teammate Carlos Sainz and the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton on the podium. The reigning champion Max Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez had to retire due to an engine issue. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso is impressed by both Alpines finishing in Top 10 in the Bahrain race.

Fernando Alonso finished ninth while his young teammate Esteban Ocon finished ahead of him at P7. The two-time world champion is happy with his team’s performance. Despite bringing just enough points to bring alpine in the midfield, the Spaniard is quite confident with his team. He suggests everyone to not give up hope on them just yet and wait until the end of the 2022 season.

Fernando Alonso on the Alpine A522 after Bahrain GP

Alonso compares the performance of the Alpine A522 after the race with the other cars like RB18, W13, F1-75, and MCL36. Further, Alpine along with Mercedes and Ferrari were the only team who had both their drivers finishing in the Top 10.

The 40-year-old said, “We’ll see. We’ll see at the end of the year. For now, there are some teams that have started better than the others. Ferrari has started very strong; Red Bull too; Mercedes not as strong as last year and probably McLaren, a little bit behind. Perhaps Alpine is quite stable. Where we were last year we are still this year in some way, but it is only the first race.”

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“Not many teams finished with both cars in the points: only Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine, so I think we have to be proud and happy with the performance today. But with our feet on the ground, aware that we have to improve a lot for next weekend,” the Spaniard later added.

Can Alpine fight for the championship in 2022?

The French constructors, after failing to achieve much success in the past few years, planned to rebuild the team again last season. They first rebranded themselves from Renault to Alpine in the 2021 season. Moreover, they got Fernando Alonso, the driver who has won both his World Championships during his days in Renault.

Alpine’s 2021 season wasn’t that great as they finished fifth on the table. However, they were confident that they have the potential to move up. In the pre-season testing this time around, they looked impressive, but not ready to fight for the championship yet.

At the season opener, both Alpine cars finished in the Top 10. Therefore, the French constructor is in fifth place again. But they still have time for improvement and can fight for the top of the mid-table finish or even the third place.

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With such claims from the Spaniard, it would be fascinating to see where Alpine would end up on the table at the end of this season. The Enstone-based team is now preparing for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday.