Hakkinen sees Alonso being an F1 winner this year
Fernando Alonso's Alpine on the first morning of the Barcelona pre-season session. Circuit de Catalunya February 2022.
Mika Hakkinen believes Fernando Alonso will be a Formula 1 winner again – perhaps even this year.
Alonso, at the age of 40, is gearing up for his second season back in the sport after a two-year break, having achieved a podium finish in theAlpineat the Qatar Grand Prix in November.
然而,西班牙人真正想要的是什么victories, and he hopes the much-changed regulations for this seasonoffer him a strong chance of further success– 16 years after achieving the second of his back-to-back World Championship triumphs.
There was certainly no question about Alonso’s level of driving last year for he looked as though he had never been away and Hakkinen, a fellow double former World Champion, thinks more glory days are ahead for a man he briefly raced against at opposite ends of their careers.
4️⃣7️⃣ laps so far this morning. One more run before we break for lunch.#F1Testingpic.twitter.com/762QuBAChQ
— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team)February 23, 2022
“I’m still very impressed with Fernando,” said Häkkinen, quoted by Motorsport.com. “We know his motivation, his fitness, his love of motorsport and I can see him winning.
“He is not in Formula 1 just to be in it, he wants to win and I am very confident. I see him winning in Formula 1 sooner or later.
“And the team he is in now, I’m sure that with the resources and the means they have, if they want to use them fully, they can win. So I wouldn’t be surprised if 2022 is the year when we will see Alonso winning races.”
One particular reason for that confidence on the Finn’s part is the new cars, which Alonso has openly admitted he is banking on to fulfil his remaining goals in Formula 1.
“I say that because this year’s cars, with the new regulations, are set up extremely differently to last year,” explained Hakkinen.
“They are much steeper, they slide much more in the slow corners. You don’t have so much downforce in those corners so you need very good control of the car, you need to be very aggressive to be able to generate good temperature in the tyres.
“That’s why if you look at Alonso’s driving style since he made his debut in Formula 1, as well as his performance, I wouldn’t be surprised if that driving style fits well with this new regulation.”
Alonso had his first serious taste of the Alpine A522 on Wednesday morning in Barcelona, ending the opening pre-season track session seventh of 10 with 54 laps under his belt, just over three seconds down on pace-setterCharles Leclerc.
Alonso believes Alpine are ‘better off’ this year
Fernando Alonso believes that Alpine are in a better place than last year.
