BWT ALPINE F1 TEAM PREVIEWS THE 2022 EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX

Pat Fry: "Imola is a classic Formula 1 circuit. In fact, I’ve been going there for 30 years, so it’s certainly seen a lot of different Formula 1 cars in that time! I think it will be interesting to see how this year’s cars can race at a circuit like Imola and hopefully we are able to put on a show. We, like everyone, are trying to develop the car as quickly as possible. We’re working through bringing weight saving items to the car when and where we can. Although it’s a Sprint race weekend we still have a new floor upgrade that we will test, so we’ll see how that fares in the sole Friday practice session. It’s a step in the right direction and it will be interesting to see how it performs on track."

Esteban Ocon: "Three races finishing in the points is obviously a good result for me, so I am for sure happy with how the new season has begun. Personally, it’s good to show consistency with solid performances in these early stages in a season but there is room for improvement in many areas. As a team, we’ve had mixed results and not being satisfied with where we stand today is testament to the progress we have made over the last months. It will be nice to race in Europe again, it feels like it has been a while! As far as Sprint Qualifying goes, I am all for the evolution of the sport and whatever we can do to make it more exciting for the fans. I personally like this format and I am eager to get out there and try to score as many points as possible for the team."

Fernando Alonso: "I think performance wise we seem fairly consistent at three different circuits so far, which is a positive sign. We know it’s going to be a big development battle this year. There are twenty races to go, so there is plenty of time to recover some points in the standings. On Sprint Qualifying, I think it’s good to mix it up and we saw last year that in some races the format worked well. If I look back then Silverstone was particularly enjoyable for me. Formula 1 has made some changes to the format for this season, we’ll see if these have paid off. It’s a tough but not impossible track to overtake on, so I hope we see some action from the field on Saturday and Sunday. There are a lot of points now available on three Saturdays this year. I’m hopeful we can come away with some points this weekend."