Alonso ‘surprised’ with P7 finish in FP2

Fernando Alonso has said he was "surprised" with his lofty finishing position in FP2 after being hindered by more McLaren-Honda problems.

Alonso is making his return to Formula 1 after his Indianapolis 500 appearance and it was soon business as usual after a hydraulic issue cut short his FP1 session and ate into an hour of FP2 as well.

The Spaniard spent the rest of the session trying to play catch-up and, as the chequered flag waved, Alonso shot up to P7 in the standings to give him a glimmer of hope ahead of Saturday's qualfiying session.

"Yes, a little bit [surprised]," said Alonso when he learned of his P7 finish.

"With the problems we had in FP1 and missing most of FP2 I think the car is not perfectly turned and the set-up has some room to improve performance so even with those handicaps we are in the top ten, so happy for that.

“Not an easy Friday, not an easy start but nevertheless we know the circuit, we race here many years we should be able to attack qualifying and the race. There is more to come tomorrow."