Over the past couple of race weekends, a surprising third team joined the battle for pole positions – Ferrari. The Maranello outfit showed some blistering pace against Mercedes and Red Bull, making them look like minnows over one-lap pace.

Charles Leclerc secured pole positions at Monaco and Baku, potentially announcing Ferrari’s return to the top of the chart.

However, is that really the case? Are Ferrari really back in form? Well, Fernando Alonso doesn’t think so. The Alpine driver is certain that Ferrari’s dream run ends here.

Tire preparation is helping Ferrari somehow: Alonso

As reported by Motorsport, the Spaniard claimed that Ferrari’s back-to-back pole positions had nothing to do with the car’s performance. Instead, he felt it was the nature of the street circuits that played a crucial role in guiding the Reds to glory.

“On the street circuits, the tyre preparation is helping somehow our opponents in a way to raise their performance,” he said.

“They are fighting for pole position now. But we don’t believe that is the improvement of the car. It is just how they switch the tyres on for a street circuit.”

Alonso’s claims seem quite reasonable, considering how Ferrari struggled during the race despite starting on pole position.

The Monegasque led just over 2 laps before Lewis Hamilton eased past the Ferrari and then followed the two Red Bull drivers. Leclerc just didn’t have enough race pace to fight against the title contenders, as he ultimately settled for P4.

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Alonso confident Alpine will return stronger

The Spaniard reckoned that Ferrari’s dominant qualifying run will not sustain as F1 are set to return to proper racing circuits from the coming weekend. Furthermore, with the absence of Singapore, Alonso felt that the rival teams cannot replicate the Monaco and Baku success.

“But there are no more street circuits after this. Even Singapore is gone. So maybe we come back to more normal performance,” Alonso said.

Alpine are currently holding on to P7 on the constructor’s table, securing a rather unsatisfactory 25 points. However, with circuits like Paul Ricard, Red Bull Ring, and Silverstone waiting in line, Alpine could yet revive their form and push for more points in a bid to join the battle for P3 in the championship.

Hence, how are Alpine going to fair at the French Grand Prix and subsequent weekends? Will they manage to steal the best of the rest tag from Ferrari and McLaren? Well, only time will tell.

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