Alonso: McLaren have ‘managed to recover’

Editor

Fernando Alonso is confident McLaren "managed to recover everything" after he was kept in the garage for a large part of FP1 in Australia.

The fragility of the MCL33 was clear to see in winter testing and the problems continued as the 2018 season got underway.

Alonso was initially sidelined due to an overheating exhaust, but was able to enjoy a drama-free second practice session at Albert Park which saw both McLaren drivers inside the top 10.

“We lost a little bit of time in first practice with some issues," Alonso said. "but we managed to recover everything in the second session, and now we need to analyse everything to get the best package for tomorrow."

But he also warned that the bad weather heading to the track tomorrow could mix things up all over again.

"The weather conditions will be changeable from tomorrow, so we need to be careful with the information we have gathered.

"It is going to affect everyone and we’re used to these changeable conditions here, so hopefully we can maximise every opportunity.”

Alonso finished FP2 in P8, with team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne a tenth back in P10.