After a two-year break from Formula 1 this season, the double world champion admitted that he had not achieved “100%” in the first two races in Bahrain and Imola.
Alonso had an encouraging day of practice at Portimao, finishing fifth on the FP2 table, just ahead of alpine teammate Esteban Ocon and within 0.4 seconds of Lewis Hamilton’s benchmark.
“It’s been a good day of practice for me and the most pleasant I’ve had this season compared to Bahrain and Imola,” said Alonso.
I was happy with the car’s set-up pretty early in the day, so my main focus was getting used to the track and then evaluating the tires in the two sessions. We still have a lot of data to analyze, but it’s a good start to the weekend.
“I enjoyed driving the track in a Formula 1 session for the first time, but I think the traffic could be a challenge in qualifying tomorrow. It’s an exciting circuit, that’s for sure. “
Despite Alpine pace, which caught the attention of McLaren driver Lando Norris, Alpine race director Davide Brivio emphasized that the French squad would not focus too much on the timesheets during this phase of the weekend.
On the subject of matching items
“I think it was a good day for the team today,” he said. “It’s only Friday, however, and we’re not going to look too much into the timesheets.
“We were able to test a few things on each car in the morning and then, in the second session, do our usual long runs on each tire to collect data and information for the race.
“The drivers did a good job. It’s Fernando’s first time here in a Formula 1 car, so he got used to the track a bit and Esteban ran very consistently in both sessions.
On the subject of matching items
“It’s a positive start to the weekend. We’ll keep working hard and see how the next two days develop.”
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