Fernando Alonso: I want to keep earning points

Fernando Alonso earned points in five races in a row. The Spanish Alpine driver is determined to continue his high-scoring streak this weekend in Austria’s Spielberg.

Q: The race at Silverstone turned out to be exciting. How do you rate it?
Fernando Alonso: At Silverstone we had a good result and I enjoyed the battle ahead in the final laps. The team can be satisfied with fifth place.

I consider this past weekend the best for us in terms of competitiveness and results. The car was fast on both wet and dry roads. This is a good sign for the coming weekend. Apparently the novelties we’ve prepared are working – thanks to everyone at the Enstone and Weary bases for their efforts.

It’s good to see Guanyu Zhou and Alex Albon doing well after a serious first round incident.

Q: What do you expect from the Austrian Grand Prix?
Fernando Alonso: I hope we can pick up where we left off at Silverstone. In the double phases you have to keep your energy at the right level. Luckily there isn’t that much distance between the tracks, so moving wasn’t a big factor.

There is a short lap on the track so there are usually minimal gaps in qualifying. A small mistake and loss of time can be worth the effort to reach the final. Plus, this weekend will be in sprint format – the track is just right for him, because you can overtake on it. I want to keep earning points.

Q: Do you prepare differently for the sprint weekend?
Fernando Alonso: The difference is that we only have one practice session to find the perfect setting for qualifying. A similar situation due to the weather was at Silverstone last weekend. I’m sure the fans are more interested in listening to less talk and seeing more action, but we have to adapt to this format.

Enough sprint weekends have already passed, so this format is already familiar to us. However, I would have preferred the sprint to have more points because that would make it more meaningful.