Alonso: Alpine car "much more alive" despite qualifying struggles
Fernando Alonso says Alpine’s A521 Formula 1 car felt “much more alive” at Portimao despite dropping out in Q2, with the team unsure why he lost so much performance.
Alpine showed an improved level of performance throughout Friday’s practice running for the Portuguese Grand Prix after struggling to battle with the midfield leaders at the opening two races.
While Esteban Ocon was able to translate this pace into qualifying, taking sixth place on the grid, two-time F1 world champion Alonso struggled to 13th, dropping out in Q2.
Alonso was left puzzled by the lack of pace in qualifying, believing that he lost performance from final practice, but was generally pleased with the improvements made with the car over the Portimao weekend.
“I think from FP3 to Q1 we lost quite a lot of the feeling of the car and the performance of the car, so that was a bad thing,” Alonso said.
“We are still investigating what could be the reasons to lose one second on the pace, but there is nothing we can do now.
“I’m still quite happy with everything this weekend. The car feels much better and much more alive and really competitive in all the sessions, so it has been a big step forward for us.
“Maybe we are not in the position that we should be, but at the same time we have the free choice of tyre, and that may be better for the race in a way as a team to have two possibilities with the two drivers.
“It has been a very positive weekend.”
Alpine brought some updated parts for the car to the last race at Imola, but said at the time that it expected them to offer bigger performance gains at other circuits.
Additional updates debuted at Portimao this weekend, but Ocon felt that his run to sixth in qualifying was also helped by a fine-tuning of the car.
"We had some new parts at Imola, but also here, we are trying still to understand all those upgrades that we are having, and extract the maximum out of those,” Ocon said.
“At Imola, the car felt decent to drive, but the platform that we have, there was potentially more to come with it. We’re understanding a few things that we needed to do which we’ve done here.
“We’ve tested them, and it paid off. I’m sure if we keep finding little areas like this where we can improve, we can probably bring the car even quicker.
“So there hasn’t been a significant change in terms of parts, but there has been some fine tuning of those.”
But Ocon revealed that his final effort in Q3 “wasn’t the best lap”, given the time that he set in final practice would have been good enough for fourth on the grid.
“The car was more tricky to drive in qualy than FP3, but the big step and big improvement that we’ve done was coming from Friday to Saturday morning,” Ocon said.
“So we did some minor changes in-between FP3 and qualy, but the big of the work was overnight, that we’ve done.
“That’s where we made the huge step, and the confidence that the car gave us was huge. Little bit more tricky, I would say, in qualy than in FP3, but still decent.”
Related video
Previous article
Perez: Lack of confidence "a big killer" at Portimao
Next article
McLaren: Ricciardo's struggles exaggerated by low-grip circuits
About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Event | Portuguese GP |
| Drivers | Fernando Alonso |
| Teams | Alpine |
| Author | Luke Smith |
The AlphaTauri improvements that mean Gasly’s form is no fluke
Pierre Gasly has driven superbly since demotion from Red Bull in 2019, but the team formerly known as Toro Rosso has come on strong too – building a car that can often challenge Ferrari and McLaren. Here Gasly reveals to ALEX KALINAUCKAS how AlphaTauri has given him the tools needed to rebuild his reputation
Why Bottas feels the time has come to be “more selfish”
We’ve seen five distinct versions of Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes as he’s tried to fulfil his own ambitions while being a consummate team player – two difficult, competing missions which have been challenging to reconcile. Speaking exclusively to Stuart Codling, Bottas explains his highs and lows… and why he still believes he can be world champion.
How long can Verstappen and Hamilton keep it clean?
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have been evenly matched so far in the 2021 Formula 1 title race. Neither has been afraid to get aggressive against each other on track, teeing up an enthralling contest as the year unwinds. But how long will their battle remain clean? Jonathan Noble ponders that exact point
How Brabham’s one-hit wonder was boxed into a corner
The Brabham BT46B raced once, won once, then vanished – or did it? STUART CODLING reveals the story of the car which was never actually banned…
The changes Barcelona needs to provide a modern-day F1 spectacle
Formula 1’s visits to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya over recent years have been met with familiar criticisms despite tweaks here and there to the track to improve racing. With the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix largely going the same way, proper solutions need to be followed to achieve F1’s wider targets
Spanish Grand Prix Driver Ratings
Often described as Formula 1's laboratory, the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona gave the clearest demonstration yet of the pecking order in 2021. And it's the key discrepancies from that order which illuminate who is excelling, and who needs to hit the reset button.
How Red Bull's deja vu set Hamilton on the winning path in Spain
An aggressive first corner move from Max Verstappen appeared to have set the Red Bull driver on course for victory in the Spanish Grand Prix. But canny strategy from Mercedes - combined with the absence of Red Bull's number two from the lead group - allowed Lewis Hamilton to pull off a demoralising reversal
The Barcelona practice times that prove Red Bull has hidden pace
Lewis Hamilton led the way in Friday practice for the 2021 Spanish Grand Prix, but there was one major encouraging sign for Red Bull. However, making good on that gain will require Max Verstappen to avoid repeating a mistake that left him well down the FP2 order...
