Alonso takes confidence from Imola GP: 'Learning more than in normal race'

For drivers driving their second Grand Prix with their new team, the race in Imola was a real challenge. The changing conditions and the limited time in the car up to that point ensured that there was a lot to learn for drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz, who are driving with respective Aston Martin and Ferrari this season. Fernando Alonso also saw the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as a great learning opportunity.

Alonso drove his last full Grand Prix in 2018, so the race in Imola was a big challenge for the Spaniard in more ways than one. "It's been a triple experience because from the first lap to the last the conditions were constantly changing and the grip was also constantly different," the two-time world champion acknowledged to The Race.

"We had a red flag, a standing start and a rolling start. There were lots of things we could practice and lots of scenarios that you would normally only experience after four or five races. All of that was put together in one race with a lot of events. There are a lot of lessons to be learned. For my feeling, I have 300 percent more confidence in the car now."

So although Alonso's confidence has increased dramatically following the Grand Prix in Imola, where he was classified tenth following Kimi Raikkonen's penalty, Alonso's confidence is not yet at the point it was at the end of 2018. "The confidence is not back yet in Portimao. That's not something that just changes. A race like Imola does help a lot because you start to understand the car in different conditions and because of that you learn a lot more than in a normal race."