Fernando Alonso has called his new F1 car 'fast' ahead of 2022 season

Alpine sporting director Alan Permane has said that Fernando Alonso called their new car, the A522, ‘fast’ over the last sessions of testing in Bahrain and that Q3 is a realistic goal for them come qualifying this weekend at the Sakhir circuit.

The 2022 Formula 1 season is nearly here now with testing done and dusted and the real action about to begin.

All new rules for the year have us set up for a potentially thrilling season and the likes of Alonso will want to benefit from the changes and move up the order.

Speaking after the test, then, Permane revealed the Spaniard’s thoughts on the car and it appears as though progress is being made:

“The first day in Sakhir because we couldn’t get into a good dynamic, but the next two have gone well,” he told AS.

“Especially on Saturday, we started to make progress with a set-up that allows us to turn porpoising on and off whenever we want.

“We know why it happens and what stops it. We know when it makes us faster or slower.

“If you look at other cars, Ferrari still keeps it in some circumstances. We’ve played with the suspensions, the camber, slipstreams and so on. And we’re significantly better.

“We weren’t too worried, the performance was there and we were happy.

“I’m not sure people believed us, but we hadn’t panicked. Nothing has changed. I still don’t know what the order of the grid is, but I know we are there.

“Fernando was still not entirely happy. He wants to go faster and sees problems with the car. He is much happier now, of course.

“He had a high fuel load for much of the day, and then with the C3 he already felt the car fast, he said: ‘wow, this car is fast’. He was happy, he could feel the performance of the car.

“We did not put qualifying fuel, but a little fuel.