Fernando Alonso is back, and definitely one of the most talked drivers on the grid. The two times world champion has already had a taste of his new drive, the Alpine A521, during the Bahrein testing.

As the new season is set to start on Sunday with the Bahrain GP, the Spanish driver is excited about his return to racing and thinks highly of his colleagues, as he stated during an interview with BBC: “It’s going to be great and I’m looking forward to it, there are some young, talented guys who have been showing great performances in the younger categories and then we still have the champions who were here two years ago — Lewis, Sebastian, Kimi, even Verstappen who even if he is one of the young generation, he has already been racing at the top level for four or five years. So I think we have a very competitive grid and it’s going to be a challenge to beat everyone on track.”

However, when he was asked if he thought himself to be as the same level of driving as the other former world chmapions and Verstappen, he answered:"No. I'm better."

Alonso also talked about his expectations for the season: “I’m back in Formula 1 with the aim of doing well, obviously, and the aim of having the chance to win races and hopefully to fight for championships."

He doesn't believe his odds of winning the championship this season to be high, but is hopeful that the situation will improve in 2022 with the new regulations: "We understand that this year it is not going to be possible because the regulations are a little bit different but basically the same as previous years, so I don’t see any miracles happening there. But I think in 2022 there is a chance with the new regulations mixing the order of the grid and we want to be one of those teams that surprises everybody. To do that we need to work hard this year.”

The Alpine driver also talked about the cycling accident he suffered in January:"I was lucky at the end. I was feeling worried while it happened, because i had been waiting for all the second part of last year [to return in F1]. You are preparing for the team presentation, and the first tests, and then suddenly you find yourself in an hospital room, and you don't know how long it will take to recover."

Luckily everything turned out for the best, and he could resume his preparation after undergoing surgery:" I spent a week at home without doing any activities, but after that I was perfectly fine. It will not compromise my season."

"I’m very excited for the entire weekend. There has been a lot of preparation for this moment, not only with the team during testing and the work done at both factories over the winter period, but also personally."@alo_oficial, #BahrainGP Preview pic.twitter.com/vh3E3RKp4B

— Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) March 24, 2021