“Matching the pace of Ferrari…is going to be difficult”: Fernando Alonso unsure if he can keep up pace with the frontrunners
Daniel Johnston
Updated on April 01, 2026
Former World Champion Fernando Alonso has always been a force to reckon with when it comes to driving to the top spot, leaving all his rivals behind. When Alonso made a comeback to Formula 1 last season, his fans were overwhelmed to see him steer his Alpine through the grid. But still, his performance was not up to par and he finished the F1 2021 season in the 10th spot with 81 Championship points to his name.
Since then, the Asturian has got used to his new team, settled in his 2022 car, and scored decently in the first three races of the new season. In the first race of 2022 in Bahrain, Alonso managed to get into Q3 during the Qualifiers and in the main race, he came 8th. Similarly, in Jeddah, Fernando put up a great show during the Qualifying Session on Saturday, but his car performed poorly on Sunday during the main race and he had to withdraw from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. In the Australian Grand Prix, Fernando was at the tail end of the grid at the 17th position when the race ended.
Now that we are three races into the new F1 season, the engineers at Alpine have understood the potential of their car and are constantly trying to make it better. The A522 gave Fernando Alonso enough speed to fight for the pole position in Australia, but it still lakes reliability. Speaking of his chances to topple the Ferrari drivers to clinch a race win, Fernando Alonso stayed practical and commented that he thinks Alpine is still far from the lead.
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While many fans were awestruck to find Fernando Alonso making a run for the podium in Melbourne, they wondered if the Alpine has enough speed to overtake the Ferrari cars, which are apparently the ones to watch out for, this season. While discussing this, Fernando did make it clear he was pleased with the advancements at the Alpine garage as they can take “an enormous step” with his A522 this year to give him some more race pace.
But even then, Alonso is not too sure if he will be able to match Leclerc’s speed in his Ferrari. With the new regulations that have been announced in 2022, Ferrari has brought out arguably the best car in the grid and every team is aiming at making a car that can beat theirs.
But despite Alpine’s potential to make a good car for Alonso, he said, ” Matching the pace of Ferrari I think is going to be difficult because obviously, we are eight-tenths of a second or a second behind at the moment if we look at the qualifying performance of the first two races.“
