Next 2 months are crucial: Spanish F1 driver Alonso

Spanish F1 driver Fernando Alonso (McLaren) has said at a press conference before the Bahrain Grand Prix that the next two months are crucial for his team's aspirations in the Formula One World Championship.

Just a few days before the second Grand Prix of the year, Alonso on Thursday indicated that "the next two months are crucial," hoping that the team would be able to improve his car and keep putting in more performance, reports Efe.

"If it's not a world championship fight, it will hopefully be some podium positions during the year or it can be regular top six or top five positions," said the Spaniard.

In the Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the season, Fernando came in fifth, attributing it to the "the Virtual Safety Car" and the two Haas retirements of drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen.

The two-time F1 world champion hopes that McLaren's performance will improve "in the coming weeks, in the next four or five or six Grands Prix."

"I don't have the crystal ball anymore," he joked when asked about his predictions for the Bahrain race, although he added, "I think definitely the car has some potential."

"Over the winter we had some ups and downs in testing and then in Australia it was the same thing ... It was a good race, a lucky race," he said. "There is still for us a lot to improve if we want to catch up to the top three teams, but I think we have the potential there and hopefully we can unlock some performance in the next races."

--IANS

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