Fernando Alonso to conduct another Renault F1 test in Bahrain

Fernando Alonso will continue his preparations for his Formula 1 comeback by conducting a further test next week in a 2018 Renault car at Bahrain.

The two-time world champion will replace McLaren-bound Daniel Ricciardo in Renault’s line-up for the 2021 season to partner Esteban Ocon when the team rebrands to Alpine.

Alonso conducted a familiarisation test with Renault earlier this month at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya circuit, as he racked up 100km behind Renault’s latest RS20 challenger as part of a filming day.

The Spaniard, who is set to join the team at this weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola, will step up his preparations for his F1 comeback with a further two-day test in Bahrain.

It will follow a test Renault has already planned for three of its junior drivers at the same circuit which runs until November 2. Alonso will then get behind the wheel of a 2018 Renault car for two days between 4-5 November.

Renault confirmed the news on social media on Friday, tweeting: “Next step in Fernando’s Back to F1 journey; a two-day R.S.18 test in Bahrain next week! 4-5 November, stay tuned.”

Following his run in Spain, Alonso admitted that Renault’s 2020 car was “outperforming” him as he got back up to speed in F1 machinery.

"The feeling was good. I think the car is obviously outperforming me at the moment, because I cannot extract the maximum from the car," he said.

"Getting back to the F1 speed is not so easy. I was improving lap after lap, and trying to give feedback to the engineers. Also we had some filming to do, so there were cameras, there were drones following on track. So it was hard pressure, hard work today.

"I think the car has potential, as we see every weekend. But still some room to improve, as we know, and we'll try to do it in the shorter term."