Alfa Romeo target shock Jeddah podium

Alfa Romeo head of trackside engineering Xevi Pujolar is hoping the team can emulate Alpine's shock podium at the Qatar Grand Prix on F1's maiden visit to Saudi Arabia.

Fernando Alonso made the most of a weekend of unknowns at the Losail International Circuit to take his first top-three since 2014 and Alpine's second of the year after Esteban Ocon's victory in Hungary.

The French manufacturer had been struggling for form through races in the United States, Mexico City and São Paulo but the Spaniard was able to take advantage of the new surroundings to prosper, an example Pujolar hopes Alfa Romeo can follow.

"We are lacking a bit of pace, we want to understand what we can do to get this pace back and we can see also some teams from race to race, for example, Alpine in Qatar, they were on the podium," explained Pujolar.

“If we do analyse all this and understand, we would like also to have an opportunity in the next two races.

“For sure, something needs to happen at the front but if it happens in Jeddah, we have got a new race for everyone so maybe an open opportunity is there and we want to work hard this next week to take these opportunities if they are there.”

Asked whether the new Jeddah Corniche circuit would play to Alfa Romeo's strengths, Pujolar added: “I don’t know yet. I haven’t got that far.

"We will have to see in terms of the Tarmac how everything…[at Qatar], we had initially some kind of idea what will happen but then in terms of how we worked with the tyres and the car balance, it was a bit different.

“I think we need to understand a bit more when we get the information on the Tarmac and the conditions."

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