Alpine "ready to fight" after strong run - Alonso

Fernando Alonso has insisted Alpine is "ready to fight" after another strong performance last time out in Russia.

The Spaniard looked on course for a podium finish before rain intervened in the dying stages at Sochi with Alonso instead settling for sixth after a tyre gamble failed to pay off.

Two-time champion Alonso is now 10th in the drivers' standings and the highest-ranked driver not to have stood on the podium but despite this, he is looking forward to the future given the strong performances being shown by Alpine.

"The team is doing fantastically well," he said.

"Every weekend we are optimising things. Some weekends we look a little less competitive, like Monza, both cars in the points, some weekends we look more competitive, like Zandvoort, or in Sochi, and we finished top six.

"There is something we are doing good on weekends, especially Sundays, to score so many points, so I am very proud of the progress.

"We are working towards a very strong team and looking towards next year hopefully the package is competitive out of the factory. But the team here at the race weekend is ready to fight."

Targetting the race in Russia itself, Alonso added: "It was very fun because I was faster.

"I really enjoyed it. When the conditions were tricky, the car was very good. We changed tyres very late, so my tyres were in very good condition.

"I overtook Verstappen, Daniel, Perez, Carlos, so it was not people crashing in front of me, it was merit we were overtaking people, so I am very proud of the race and the team."

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