Fernando Alonso says “everything is coming automatically” in Formula 1 after conceding that he adopted a cautious approach during the early events.
Alonso returned to Formula 1 with Alpine for 2021 after a two-year break from the sport, having walked away from McLaren at the conclusion of a frustrating four-season stint.
Alonso scored points only twice in the opening five rounds but has since finished in the top 10 at each grand prix, impressing at Silverstone by vaulting six places on the opening lap of Sprint.
He revealed that a cautious start was also triggered by having to adapt to the different surroundings at Alpine compared to the McLaren with which he started his last grand prix in 2018.
“I feel good, more confident now in the car,” he said.
“I think at the beginning of the year I needed a couple of races to get used to everything, not only F1 in itself, but also the Renault.
“I think if I was jumping back in the McLaren style, and the steering wheel, etc, I could have maybe shortened that adaptation but with Renault, it was a little bit more work to be done.
“In the first races I was quite careful, I didn’t want to make a big mistake.
“Everyone was saying ‘let’s see how Fernando does after the different categories, coming back to F1 will be not easy, or will be easy, what do you think about the new generations’, all these things.
“I wanted to execute the races with no mistakes and slowly build up the confidence, and now that I have more confidence and more knowledge about the car, about the team, about the tyres, I can drive with not too much thinking.
“I can just use the instinct because everything is coming automatically, so I’m happy for that.”
Alonso will turn 40 next week but outlined he “feels 25” and isn’t remotely affected by the milestone.
“I feel good, honestly after the [cycling] accident at the beginning of the year, the first couple of races, still part of the stress of coming back, I was concerned a bit about the jaw, the shoulder where I had a small injury,” he said.
“But now I’m super fit, 200 per cent. Next week is another number but I feel 25, so whatever number it says in the Passport is not what I feel.”
