26/07/2021
NEWS STORY
Having built up confidence in the Alpine, Fernando Alonso's increased knowledge of the car has meant he can rely on his instincts once again.
From the outset, the two-time world champion had more than his fair share of doubters, but Fernando Alonso's increasing confidence in his car is reaping rewards.
At Silverstone the Spaniard scored his fifth consecutive points finish, while he has out-qualified his teammate, Esteban 6-4 thus far, making it to Q3 four times. Indeed, it would have been five but for Sebastian Vettel's error in Austria.
Despite a somewhat shaky start to the season, Alonso is now a regular feature in the midfield battles as his confidence in the A521 grows.
"I feel good, more confident now in the car," he admits. "At the beginning of the year I needed a couple of races to get used to everything, not only F1 in itself, but also the Renault.
"I think if I was jumping back in the McLaren style, and the steering wheel, etc, I could have maybe shortened that adaptation," he continues but with Renault (sic), it was a little bit more work to be done.
"In the first races I was quite careful, I didn't want to make a big mistake. Everyone was saying 'let's see how Fernando does after the different categories, coming back to F1 will be not easy, or will be easy, what do you think about the new generations', all these things.
"I wanted to execute the races with no mistakes and slowly build up confidence, and now that I have more confidence and more knowledge about the car, about the team, about the tyres, I can drive with not too much thinking.
"I can just use the instinct because everything is coming automatically, so I'm happy for that."
Over the Hungary weekend he will turn 40, while he is just two races away from becoming the second most experienced driver in the history of the sport.
"I feel good," he laughs, "honestly after the cycling accident at the beginning of the year, the first couple of races, still part of the stress of coming back, I was concerned a bit about the jaw, the shoulder where I had a small injury.
"But now I'm super fit, 200 percent. Next week is another number but I feel 25, so whatever number it says in the passport is not what I feel."