Alonso: 'Paul Ricard is a circuit I don't know very well'

In Baku, Alpine's team achieved its best result of the season with Alonso in sixth place, but they know the pace isn't good enough. For their home race, the French Grand Prix, they want to get a good result. On the site Car and Driver, you can see what Alonso thinks about the weekend.

"In hindsight, our overall pace was a bit low during the race, so we have to look at why that was the case. I was happy to take a couple of good points in Baku, it was a deserved result for the team," Alonso told reporters.

Alonso unfamiliar with Paul Ricard

Despite the Spaniard being unfamiliar with the circuit, the French Grand Prix is the deadline he has set for himself to feel like his old self again. "I always enjoy racing in France. I have had good results in this country in Formula 1 and in other motorsport categories. But Paul Ricard is actually a circuit I don't know very well, having only raced here once in Formula 1," he explained.

"The track has received some minor tweaks to improve the racing, so we will evaluate it early in the weekend. The track has quite a few high-speed sections and Turn 10 is going to be fun in these modern Formula One cars. There are a lot of run-off areas on tarmac around the circuit, which makes it less likely that mistakes will be punished by the barriers. This will be different from what we experienced in Monaco and Baku and hopefully we can put on a show for the fans," said Alonso. Last year's race at Paul Ricard was cancelled due to the pandemic. So Alonso has actually only missed one race in France since his departure.