Alonso: We’ve adapted my car to my driving style

Indeed it was one of the most well-anticipated comebacks in the history of F1, which began when Alonso declared enough on his two-year sabbatical and ended with a return to the former Renault team with whom he won his two F1 titles back in 2005 and 2006.

While things have changed drastically since his previous reign, the pedigree is clearly there.

Despite a storied couple of years including successful forays in WEC, Le Mans , Daytona 24 Hours and less successful ones such as the Dakar, Alonso's returned was ambushed by inevitable rustiness and substantially less pre-season F1 testing, which also negatively impacted the 2021 rookies and just about every driver who changed teams between seasons.

Alonso admitted in an interview with SoyMotor: "I said at the beginning that I would need three or four races in order to be at the level of the car. In the end, they were more, six or seven, but now I am more comfortable in the car.

“Some things have helped me… not only in terms of racing but also the things that happen outside of the car. The front tyres, which this year are more delicate…

"And we’ve changed a few things in my car to adapt it to my driving style, from the power steering to the feeling you get from the steering wheel or the level of grip it transmits you.

"Some small adjustments in the brake balance and the engine brake… Every driver has their own set-up when it comes to adjusting the car and getting the most out of it has taken us the time that I more or less expected."

“Because of my driving style, I’ve always done an aggressive movement of the steering wheel in the middle of the corner, and from then on I just feel the front tyres. If the steering wheel gets softer, it means they’re losing grip.

“If it gets harder, then they have too much grip and you can expect the rear of the car to move at some point in time. I normally feel everything with my hands and the front end of the car. If they take this out of me, I am dead.

“Other drivers are not, because they feel the car with the body or they do different things, but I am defenceless if they take the front tyres out of me - then I can’t predict. We’ve worked on that just to have a lot of feeling in the steering wheel," added the 40-year-old veteran of 322 Grand Prix starts.

The Spaniard showed his masterful racecraft during a feisty battle with Lewis Hamilton during the Hungarian Grand Prix earlier this month, Alonso's role in the race at Hungaroring helped Alpine teammate secure his maiden victory in F1.