Alonso admits to lacking in confidence on F1 return

Fernando Alonso has revealed he is yet to reach 100 percent confidence following his return to F1.

Following a two-year hiatus, Alonso's F1 comeback with Alpine has been far from the thunderous return predicted by some of the Spaniard's biggest supporters.

At Imola, Alonso was virtually anonymous in qualifying and the race as he started 15th and finished 10th to claim his first point, albeit on the back of Kimi Raikkonen being handed a bizarre penalty.

Alonso does not see his situation changing ahead of the upcoming double-header in Portugal and Spain.

"You always want to be higher up and a little bit more confident in the car and probably I was not confident in Bahrain or confident in Imola," said Alonso.

"I will not be confident in Portimão. This is not a thing that goes from day to night and you are 100 percent. It will take time.

"But I am here to work and to get better and a race like in Imola, it helps massively, because you can feel the car in very difficult conditions and you can learn a lot more than just a normal race.”

Alonso also paid tribute to Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon by pointing to the Frenchman's maiden podium last year as a reason why he makes a good yardstick.

"I finished right behind Esteban [at Imola]," added Alonso. "I was in front of him when I retired the car in Bahrain.

"He is a guy that is performing very well and has two years in the team. He finished on the podium last year in Bahrain.

"Imola was my first race [back], because in Bahrain I only did 30 laps, and I am more or less where I expected to be."

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