Alpine F1 Team continued its preparations for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship today with Fernando Alonso making his debut at the wheel of the A521 in day two of pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Despite high wind speeds and a lingering residue from yesterday’s sandstorm, Fernando completed 128 laps to take the team’s overall tally for the weekend to 257 ahead of the final day of pre-season testing tomorrow.

Fernando began his programme with an aero rake fitted to the rear of the A521, driving his first laps with the team since the post-Abu Dhabi test in December. The rest of the morning saw the Spaniard acclimatise to the challenging conditions on track, with a mix of runs using the C2 and C3 tyre compounds. Fernando stopped for the lunch break in second place on the timing sheets having completed 60 laps.

Track and weather conditions improved for the afternoon session, with Fernando embarking on some longer runs fitted with the C2 and C3 tyres. The two-time world champion continued his run plan through to the evening and surpassed a century of laps with just over an hour left of the session.

His fastest lap was recorded in the morning - a 1min 32.339secs - on a set of C2 tyres.

Esteban will resume duties in the A521 tomorrow morning, before handing back to Fernando for the final part of the pre-season test.

Fernando Alonso, #14, P10, 1:32.339, 128 laps :
“We completed a lot of laps today and followed the programme that was planned so that is good, but we need to sit down now and analyse everything. The car did feel good today, but I think we still need to understand the characteristics of the new aero package a bit better. We ran with the harder compounds today and we have more running to do tomorrow, so between myself and Esteban we will aim to collect even more data and fine tune the overall package.”