28/05/2021
NEWS STORY
Admitting that his return to F1 is proving "more difficult than anticipated", while insisting that he is enjoying his return, Fernando Alonso believes part of the problem is adapting to the Alpine "philosophy".
While it hasn't exactly been a damp squib, Fernando Alonso's return to the F1 grid hasn't been quite as exciting as anticipated.
Granted, the Alpine A521 hasn't been the revelation we had hoped for, but nonetheless after five rounds, the two-time world champion trails his teammate, Esteban Ocon by 7 points and has been out-qualified by the Frenchman four times.
However, the Spaniard refuses to get disheartened.
"I think honestly the amount of joy and the amount of excitement is probably higher than what I anticipated," he tells Racer.
"I'm really enjoying every lap out there," he continues. "And I'm enjoying the preparation, I'm enjoying the meetings about the setup of the car, I'm enjoying things that before, were the worst part of the weekend.
"Now I'm really enjoying even that about the weekend," he insists. "Not only the track time, the off-track I'm also enjoying a little bit more than the past. So I'm surprised about that, because you cannot plan what you will feel when you come back.
"On the driving and the results, maybe I found it a little bit more difficult than I probably anticipated," he admits.
"It's not that I took it for granted that the results were coming automatically. I knew that the preparation was needed and the hours in the simulator and the 2018 tests in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi were needed, so I anticipated this, but I'm still struggling to maximize the potential of the car."
The Spaniard believes that part of the problem is adapting to the French team, pointing to Daniel Ricciardo and Ocon, who both initially struggled on joining the Enstone-based outfit with which he won both of his titles.
"I think it has something to do with the Renault/Alpine philosophy as well," he says. "Most of the drivers that came here, in their first year they were struggling.
"So, there is something that, we think we have some idea what the cause of it is, but it needs maybe more time than when I signed last year to come back.
"I thought that within three or four races I would be at 100%, and I think it's going to take eight or nine."