AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX Red Bull Ring, Spielberg 8-10 July 2022 Fernando Alonso heads to Austria next after a thrilling battle in Silverstone that saw him score a season best fifth position. Fernando will look to add another strong result this weekend in Spielberg and make it six top-ten finishes in a row.   It was a thrilling race at Silverstone. How was it for you? “Silverstone was a good result for us and I enjoyed battling near the front in the closing laps. We have to be happy with fifth. I think it was my best weekend so far in terms of our overall competitiveness and the result. We were competitive in all conditions in the wet and the dry weather. It’s a good sign for us and something we can build on for the next few weekends. Our upgrades that we brought to the car seem to be working well and it’s a credit to the effort by everyone at Enstone and Viry. It’s also great to see both Zhou [Guanyu] and Alex [Albon] are OK after their big incidents on the opening lap.” Looking ahead to this weekend in Austria what are your expectations? “I hope we can pick-up where we left off at Silverstone. It’s a back to back so we have to keep up the energy levels. Luckily the races aren’t too far apart so the travel isn’t a huge factor on this double header. As the lap is short at the Red Bull Ring it’s always very close and Qualifying is usually tight between a number of cars. One small error or loss of time can be the difference between Q2 and Q3. It’s also a Sprint Qualifying weekend and I think the track will be quite good for this format because overtaking is possible there. I want to keep scoring points.”   Do you have any different preparations for a Sprint Qualifying weekend? “It different as you have only one practice session to perfect the setup of the car before qualifying. We had this situation last weekend at Silverstone because of the mixed weather. As a fan I’m sure it’s more fun to watch and listen to a little less conversation and see more action. But we have to adapt to this format. We’ve had enough Sprint Qualifying races now that we are quite familiar with it. I also prefer that more points are on offer in the new format as it makes it more meaningful.” - Alpine also photos

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