Fernando Alonso has had a pretty eventful 2021 so far: he’s returning on the F1 grid after a two-season hyatus, with Alpine, and had last month a bike accident in Lugano, colliding with a car and having to undergo immediate jaw surgery.

During the surgery, two titanium plates had to be put in his jaw to secure it, which will be removed in the winter, after the end of the championship. However, as he declared to selected medias ahead of the Bahrein testing, he’s absolutely fit and ready to drive, regardless of the happening:"One thing is the professional side and driving side, which is 100%. On the personal side, obviously I will have to remove two titanium plates that I have on the upper jaw, that will be removed at the end of the season.

The training of the Spanish driver for the approaching season hasn’t been impacted by the mishap: "I've been training for I think three weeks or two weeks, absolutely normal and I've been in the simulator as well, Monday and Tuesday, so you know the preparations were not affected too much.”

Alonso unfortunately couldn’t take part in the car launch due to covid restrictions, which took place in France on the 2nd of March, and had to put off media duties for a while as a consequence of his accident: "I missed only a couple of marketing days and filming days which I was happy with in a way. And then, I recorded everything yesterday afternoon, so I had a very intense day on marketing activities. But yeah I feel fine, obviously.”

The former World Champion also talked about his return to the paddock, a transition he expectes to be “smooth”, especially since he has kept competing in endurance races in the past years: “I was not two years at home, I was racing every weekend basically, so it should be fine.”

He didn’t set particular goals for the new season, and isn’t afraid by the challenge, even thought the midfield competing level will be high, with McLaren signing former Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo and switching to Mercedes power units and Aston Martin signing Sebastian Vettel: “I don’t fear any particular challenge,” Alonso said. “How the midfield is right now is very competitive, it’s something that we are aware of, that we need to maximise and make perfect every weekend if we want to score good points.”

Alonso will drive for the first time his new car, the A521, tomorrow and on Sunday afternoon during the Bahrein testing.