Alonso urges Alpine to fast-track development of A522

Fernando Alonso was relieved to squeeze himself among the top-ten in qualifying in Bahrain, but the Spaniard has called upon Alpine to hasten the introduction of new parts for its A522.

Alonso concluded his Saturday evening session P8, but well adrift of the field's Red Bull and Ferrari front-runners, while teammate Esteban Ocon was 11th fastest.

On the one hand, the Spaniard was satisfied with his opening qualifying performance but on the other, the 1.637s gap to Ferrari poleman Charles Leclerc at Sakhir is a clear indication of the margin of progress that awaits Alpine, hence its urgent need for updates.

"To be fighting for the top 10 with both cars has been a relief a little bit for Alpine that the job done during the winter has been positive," Alonso said.

"Now it's up to us to develop the car as quick as possible. It's going to be a huge development for everybody, and we need to be fast off-track, as well as on it.

"We need to push the button now in the factories and try to make the new parts [come] to the circuit as soon as possible."

Alonso says the Enstone squad's engineers - like their fellow competitors - are already hard at work devising developments. And the two-time world champion is expecting all cars to heavily evolve in the coming months.

"There are good ideas already in the factory, but I think it's the same for everybody with the new cars. We will see in the first couple of months big changes on the cars.

"We need to make them work and hopefully close that gap to pole position that is still too much – over one second."

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One area that hasn't been a source of concern so far for Alpine is its car's behaviour on the straights, with the A522 void of the chronic porpoising issues suffered by other teams, starting with Mercedes.

"No bouncing for us so far this weekend, so fingers crossed," said Alonso.

"It's still a mystery for many people, so hopefully it stays like that."

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