Alonso: 'Alpine is exceeding their own expectations this season'

Fernando Alonso is having a strong season at Alpine, although it has not led to a podium finish (yet). Currently, his French team is in fourth place in the constructors' championship. Admittedly far behind Red Bull Racing, Ferrari and Mercedes, but ahead of McLaren.

That took Alonso quite by surprise, he reported on Formula 1's website. All expectations have been exceeded, even considering that Alpine started the season with question marks and some bad luck. But after setbacks in Jeddah and Melbourne, the way up has begun, Alonso believes.

“We had some reliability issues, but we have more power than last year, so we accept that. We are now fighting McLaren [in] the constructors’ championship and maybe that was a little bit of a dream at the beginning of the year, so I think we are overachieving compared to what we thought”, said the Spaniard.

As the fourth team in the standings, Alpine obviously wants to achieve a podium finish for once. It is still possible this year, but everything has to go our way. “I think we are in the same place as we have been all year long. I think we are right behind the top three teams so our natural position, let's say, is seventh, seventh and eighth, so we need some help always from the cars in front", Alonso said about the podium chances.