Difficult first half of season for newcomers to F1? 'Took longer than expected'

Alpine had a great finish to the first half of the 2021 season. A win for Esteban Ocon and a fourth-place for Fernando Alonso, who showed that he is still a very fast driver. After a two-year absence from F1, he returned to race for the French and after a period of adjustment, Alonso himself sees that he is now really fast.

"I said at the beginning that I need three to four races to be at the level of the car. In the end it became six or seven races but I am more comfortable in the car now," Alonso acknowledged in conversation with SoyMotor.com.

"Some things have helped, not only with racing but also with things outside the car". The Spaniard looks back on his learning process at Alpine. "We changed a number of things on the car to tailor it to my driving style, from the power steering for the feeling you get from the wheel or the level of grip you have."

In the end, Alonso is managing to perform more and more consistently and he showed that well in Hungary, where he managed to keep Hamilton behind him for a long time and saw that rewarded with a P4. In the second half of the season Alonso will be hoping to repeat the success of his teammate, Esteban Ocon, with a victory.