Fernando Alonso says he’s looking forward to driving McLaren-Honda’s MP4-30 this weekend in Malaysia, despite his earlier testing crash.
The Spaniard was sidelined for the final pre-season test and the opening race in Australia and has therefore been unable to drive his new car for over a month.
Despite its poor reliability and lack of outright pace in Australia, he’s relishing the opportunity to race again and help develop the car alongside team-mate Jenson Button.
“I watched the weekend in Australia very closely and I was in touch with the team from the moment they arrived,” he said. “It’s clear we have a lot of work ahead of us but Jenson’s result in Melbourne was encouraging from the point of view of reliability and data collection, which are extremely important.
“The weekend will be tough, but I’m looking forward to getting into the MP4-30 for the first time in a Grand Prix and getting back to racing.”
The 33-year-old has been preparing for his return for the past couple of weeks now and fully expects to be driving this weekend, pending a final FIA medical check.
“I’ve been working hard on my fitness and I feel good and ready to go this weekend,” he added. “The heat in Malaysia is always very tough for the drivers but I’ve been focusing on this in my training and I’m definitely prepared for all of the weather conditions that we can face in Sepang.
“I’ve won three times in Malaysia, including in 2007 with McLaren, and although we are a long way from the front, everyone in McLaren-Honda is working hard to develop the package and keep building momentum with each race.
“I’ve spent some time in the simulator back at the factory with the team, and my focus will be on continuing the development of our package with my engineers, and working on our balance and race set-up. There’s a lot of potential in the car and we will keep pushing every race until we see results.”
