Fernando Alonso has set his sights on scoring his first Formula 1 championship points of 2021 at Imola this weekend, as he hopes Alpine’s bad luck for the year was “used up” in Bahrain.
The Spaniard was running inside the top 10 at the season-opening race last month but was forced to retire from the grand prix after a sandwich bag became caught in his brake duct.
Team-mate Esteban Ocon was on a charge towards the points before his race was effectively ended following contact with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
Alpine was one of four teams that failed to score at the first race of the year in Bahrain, leaving Alonso with the aim of classifying inside the top ten at the second round this weekend.
“I think we have to fight to score our first points of the season on Sunday,” Alonso said. “Let’s hope all our bad luck for the season was used up in Bahrain!
“We’re still learning lots about the car and I’m expecting that the setup here and, of course, the weather will be very different to what we experienced in Bahrain.
“It should be pretty close and a few tenths of a second could make up a number of positions.”
Alonso’s outing in Bahrain was his first at a world championship F1 event since the 2018 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 39-year-old admits he has missed being a part of F1 over the last two years, adding he expects to have more “fun battles” at Imola following a number of on-track engagements in Bahrain.
“It was really enjoyable. I have missed the feeling and adrenaline that comes with qualifying in Formula 1, it’s like no other competition,” Alonso said.
“We were very pleased to make it into Q3 on Saturday and I felt comfortable to push quite hard.
“The result in the race was obviously not as we expected, but we were very unlucky to retire the way we did and, of course, Esteban was unfortunate to start where he did. In saying all of this, we had some fun battles on the track, and I look forward to some more this weekend.”
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