Fernando Alonso believes that Alpine will have a chance to finish on the podium in the event of the top teams facing issues.
Lando Norris is the only driver not from Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, or Mercedes to finish a race in the top 3 this season. That happened at the Emilia Romagna GP.
Alpine’s best result so far in 2022 is 5th place. Alonso achieved this result in Great Britain, while Esteban Ocon did it in Austria.
Alonso thinks that Alpine will have a shot at the podium if the frontrunners encounter problems.
“Obviously, we need some help from the top three teams in front of us but we always see one or two retirements from them,” the Spaniard said.
“We saw in Austria Checo [Perez] had the problem, a few races ago Carlos [Sainz] and Checo had problems as well, so there is always that possibility of a top five or top six [position] available.
“As we saw in Silverstone in the last couple of laps, anything can happen in front of you. The podium is just there, so I’m feeling positive.
“From our point of view, the second part of the season is quite optimistic in terms of performance and if we deliver some clean weekends, we will score big points.”
Alpine are currently 4th in the Constructors’ Championship, 4 points ahead of McLaren. Alonso expects “a nice fight” between the teams.
“It’s going to be interesting. I think we’ve been a little bit faster than them this year but they are very strong on Sundays.
“They always deliver the maximum available, especially with Lando who is scoring points every weekend, so we just need to outscore them with the two cars if possible.
“It’s going to be a nice fight but I feel optimistic that we are trying to be faster than them.”
