Fernando Alonso says he was relieved that both he and Esteban Ocon had been able to fight for the top 10 in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix. However, he has noted the need for Alpine to bring updates and new developments to upcoming races, given the pace of early leaders Ferrari and Red Bull. "To be fighting for the top 10 with both cars has been a relief a little bit for Alpine that the job done during the winter has been positive," Alonso told media, including RacingNews365.com , after Saturday's qualifying session. "Now it's up to us to develop the car as quick as possible. It's going to be a huge development for everybody and we need to be fast off-track, as well as on it. "We need to push the button now in the factories and try to make the new parts [come] to the circuit as soon as possible."
Closing the gap to the front of the F1 pack
Alonso and Ocon will line up eighth and 11th on the grid for Sunday's race, but the Spaniard sounded a note of caution over Alpine's deficit to the front, with pole-sitter Charles Leclerc more than 1.5 seconds clear of him. "There are good ideas already in the factory, but I think it's the same for everybody with the new cars; we will see in the first couple of months big changes on the cars," said Alonso. "We need to make them work and hopefully close that gap to pole position that is still too much – over one second."
Not an ounce of bounce for Alpine
The new regulations for 2022 have seen many teams struggle with their cars pitching up and down at high speed, in a phenomenon known as porpoising. While Mercedes appear to be particularly badly affected, Alonso noted that Alpine have not yet been suffering the same problem at Sakhir. "No bouncing for us so far this weekend, so fingers crossed," Alonso commented. "It's still a mystery for many people, so hopefully [in the race it] stays like that."
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