Ahead of Doha comeback, Carlos Alcaraz stops by F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain

Some of the biggest superstars of Formula One are hoping Carlos Alcaraz's Melbourne magic is contagious.

Ahead of his return to the ATP tour after completing the career Grand Slam last month at the Australian Open at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha this week, Alcaraz stopped by F1 pre-season testing in Bahrain to catch a glimpse of some of the new cars in the McLaren and Ferrari garages, and meet with some of the stars of the paddock.

They included Spanish stars Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, and Lewis Hamilton.

Alcaraz is a noted fan of Alonso, his compatriot, and channeled the 44-year-old after winning an epic semifinal against Alexander Zverev in Melbourne. After outlasting the German in more than five-and-a-half hours, and defying a cramping episode, Alcaraz's celebration mimicked Alonso's 2006 triumph at Suzuka.

There, the then-Renault driver jumped onto his car, raised a leg, and bowed with his arms pointed outwards, and Alcaraz did the same inside Rod Laver Arena.

The two Spaniards also know what it's like to be a prodigy, In 2005, Alonso became the youngest F1 world champion, and with his four-set win over Novak Djokovic in Melbourne, Alcaraz became the youngest man in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam.

Read more: “I just got mature”: Carlos Alcaraz used his full arsenal to beat Novak Djokovic and complete the career Slam

The world No. 1 and rival Jannik Sinner headline the field at the ATP 500 in Qatar, where Alcaraz says he will be focused on his desire to improve.

“Coming here, these days, my team and I, just we set up some goals for this tournament,” Alcaraz said Sunday in his pre-tournament press conference. “We are not talking about results at all. It's just more about the process to be better, still in the process to grow up. There are some things that I really want to be better and [I want to] develop my game in a way that I really want to show up and to pull off here in this tournament.

“That would be a really successful week for me, besides results. I [want to] see myself that I'm just doing the right things on and off the court.”