The two-time world champion returned to F1 with Alpine this season after two years away and extended his deal with the team into 2022, when the sport’s rules revolution kicks 🐈in.

Alonso madꦯe a slow start to his comeback but has finished inside the points six times in the last seven races, including his best result so far of fo🧔urth place in Hungary, where his excellent defence against Lewis Hamilton played a vital role in helping teammate Esteban Ocon seal a shock victory.

A majඣor factor behind the 40-year-old’s return to the F1 grid was the forthcoming regulation overhaul that is hoped will h⛄elp level the playing field and increase competition between the teams.

“Well hopefully next year we have a package that we can fight for competitive pos🌺itions, a step better than this year, that’s the target,” said Alonso.

“We had some expectations this year after the podiums of Renault last year that we could fight for three or four 💟podiums in the season, and we didn’t find that probably.

“I think Ferrari did improve a lot, AlphaTauri did improve, McLaren 𒁃did a step forward with Mercedes eꦜngine.

“So, we find ourselves between eighth and 12th, and we want🅰 to improve this next year, that will be the target, that will encourage me probably to continue after that.”

Kimi Raikkonen’s retirement at the end of the season will see Alonso take over as the oldest driver in the fieဣld next year, but the two-time world champion believes he is close to operating at the top🥀 of his game following a period of adaption.

“On my side, I need🍨 to keep improving,” he added. “As I said many times, I’m not 100 per cent probably yet, and days like [qualifying in Belgium] shows me I need to improve in some areas.

“Next year, if I see some progress from myself and I keep improving and keep enjoying, why n♏ot keep racing?

🍬“If I see I’m not up to speed or not doing a good job I will be the first one to raise my hand and say ꧑maybe a new face will be better for the team, but I hope not.

“I hope I can ra💟ise the hand and say I’m ready for the challenge in 2023.”

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi acknowledged his side owes Alonso “a car that will match his talent” and💝 reckons the Spaniard will continue to race until he "is not fit for F1”.

“We need to give him a better car, so thi🃏s yields better results,” Rossi said. 

“The results we have are not wꦑhere we want♕ to be four years from now and I’m sure not where he wants to be in a year from now. It’s just a step on the way.

“We discuss that, him and I, quite a bit and the idea is to stay together as long as we๊ are performing together and we’ll play it by ear. Before the end of next year we’ll decide what we do together but the goal is to carry on as much as we can.

“As long as Fernando is going to be operating at🐷 the level he is he should be an Alpine driver. If he is not fit for F1 he will leave F1 altogether and we owe him a car that will match his talent.

“That’s the deal we have together.”