"Unbelievable" Alonso backed to rediscover past F1 glory

Alpine racing director Davide Brivio has described the motivation of Fernando Alonso to succeed in F1 as "unbelievable" following the Spaniard's return to the sport after a two-year absence.

Alonso may have two titles to his name and tasted success in other championships yet the 39-year-old has so far struggled for form and performance in the A521.

Brivio, who is new to F1 after making the transition from MotoGP, has still seen enough to be convinced of the former champion's potential.

"To be honest, in general, I think with Fernando, the ability is there, the talent is there, the motivation is unbelievable," said Brivio.

"I really enjoy, and I can really see somebody great as a driver and a sportsman - everything.

"After two years, my personal feeling is it is not easy. I think we need a few races, in my opinion, to get back to the grip so it is not like...

"The first race in Bahrain was very important from this perspective, to get back and to do the things, the free practice, the qualifying, to start the race and to fight into the race and whatever."

In a bid to reduce costs in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, teams agreed to slash the length of pre-season testing from the six days in 2020 to just three this year.

This decision has played a part in Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz failing to hit the ground running after all switching teams during the winter break, underlining Alonso's own issues.

Brivio added: "You don't cover everything in one race or one weekend. You need a few weekends.

"You consider, he probably drove at Imola 10 years ago, maybe more. The other guys have raced here. All in all, we need a few races to make his baseline, his set up.

"This is what we are doing, what he needs to do and we are fully committed but I can see the potential of the guy."

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