Alonso quickly 'up to speed' with Alpine - Brivio

Alpine racing director Davide Brivio says Fernando Alonso was quickly "up to speed" in Bahrain last weekend during the French outfit's three days of pre-season testing.

Alonso returns to F1 after a two-year hiatus during which the two-time world champion took his skills to Le Mans with Toyota, Indianapolis and into the desert with a participation in the classic Dakar rally-raid event.

The Spaniard's warm-up period with Renault last year during which he put mileage under his belt at the wheel of a 2018-spec R.S.18 ensured that he was well prepared to kick off his 18th campaign in F1.

Overall, the 39-year-old racked up 206 laps ay Sakhir.

"Regarding Fernando, I saw him quite up to the pace, up to speed," Brivio said last weekend in Bahrain.

"He had to do some boring jobs, trying different setups, settings. We didn’t really look for the big performance, but it was more getting back in a car, trying the different options, the different settings in order to be prepared for the race."

Alpine suffered no particular issues or setbacks last weekend, leading Brivio to believe that both Alonso and Esteban Ocon will be in the midfield mix at the outset next week.

"Esteban and Fernando… we’re in the same situation as everybody else," added the Italian.

"We tested [like] everybody else and I think they can be up to speed from the first race, ready to fight at the level of the others, in terms of their preparation. Then of course it’s our responsibility to give them a good package.

• Read also: Alpine sees Alonso and Ocon as 'important' to each other

"In these three days it was also difficult to really understand the level of the others or where we are.

"We will have to see the race weekend, probably the first few races, but I feel we will be ready for the race.

"What Esteban and Fernando have to do is to be able to use the full potential of the car and then it will be our job to see where we are and try to give them a better package from time to time."

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