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Does Alonso deserve a second year at Alpine? 'Am considering it'

Does Alonso deserve a second year at Alpine? 'Am considering it'

02-08-2021 16:55 Last update: 18:15
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GPblog.com

Fernando Alonso signed a one-year contract last season with Renault that would be renamed Alpine F1 Team from 2021 onwards. In that contract was an option for 2022 and with his results of the first half of the season, that second year seems to be coming as well.

Alonso drives himself into the spotlight

CEO of Alpine F1 Laurent Rossi is happy with Alonso's results: "He is doing great," the Frenchman told BBC Sport. Alonso showed in Hungary that he has what it takes to win a race, holding off the much faster Lewis Hamilton for 11 laps.

"He is as fast as ever. He is certainly extracting the most out of the car. The car is not incredibly fast and he still manages to get some super-hot laps and qualify the car very well. So far, so good," Rossi continued. The Frenchman added: "He is doing everything for me to consider exercising this [contractual] option."

Few other options for Alpine

Next year, it is at least certain that brand new Grand Prix winner Esteban Ocon will drive for Alpine. In Formula 2, there are still a few Alpine juniors driving and Guanyu Zhou seems to have a chance of winning the F2 title. But he is not really considered as a second driver at Alpine in 2022 yet.