Alonso planning to pounce on Saturday's changeable conditions
- Published on 23 Mar 2018 14:05
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Fernando Alonso is hoping to work Saturday's changeable conditions to his favour, saying that he plans to extract the maximum from them. Saturday running is set to be affected by rain, with it looking likely that the first qualifying session of the year will be wet.
The Spaniard was compromised on day one in Melbourne, only setting a lap time in practice one with twenty minutes left in the session. However, he finished in eighth place in both practice sessions, indicating that the McLaren has delivered on the pace its been looking for over the last three years.
The double-world champion said that it feels good to be back in the racing spotlight: "It’s good to be back in the racing spirit, and it’s a nice feeling to be with all the cars on track after the lonely winter tests where you are the only car per team on track and have empty grandstands.
"Being the first day of the season, there were a lot of things we wanted to test. However, the weather conditions will be changeable from tomorrow, so we need to be careful with the information we have gathered.
"We lost a little bit of time in first practice with some issues but we managed to recover everything in the second session, and now we need to analyse everything to get the best package for tomorrow. The weather is going to affect everyone and we’re used to these changeable conditions here, so hopefully we can maximise every opportunity."
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Replies (5)
Login to replymcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Good to see him, finding some hope.
acmonkey
Posts: 5
Anyone remember Day 3 of tests in Barcelona? Pouring rain, and one of the few drivers that went out (17 laps) was Alonso, and he was actually the only driver to set a time. So he has a small advantage in knowing the wets with his car. Also with rain, the power difference of the engines will be dwarfed, so who knows? maybe a surprise result in Qualifying... Not saying that the rest have forgotten to race in rain, but Albert Park is tricky and if your not careful and you crash your car in FP3 or Q1 then your out... Just saying. Can't wait for tomorrow
krommenaas
Posts: 155
I was thinking the same. Noone tested in the rain more than McLaren. Early in day 4 it was also raining and only Vandoorne and Marcussen were doing laps then.
siggy74
Posts: 194
As Eric said to Alonso and co "no body move. dont panic".
" We have a plan for the tight packaging and exhaust issues,all pray for rain & dance"
Alonso replys "what no deck chair"
Eric " Do we look like a gp2 engine team"..
Roll on the rain please this will make for some interesting fun to watch, and sort the men from the boys :) Go alonso
Hepp
Posts: 200
Of all of the current drivers, I think Alo and Hulk are best in the wet.