Fernando Alonso insists McLaren was able to “recover everything” during second practice for the Australian Grand Prix, after its initial setback earlier in the day.
McLaren arrived in Melbourne confident the issues that it suffered during pre-season testing had been addressed, with Alonso outlining his ambition to fight for Q3 at each race.
McLaren’s practice day began on the back foot when an exhaust issue was detected on Alonso’s MCL33; the team also adjusted Stoffel Vandoorne’s run plan to assess his car as a precaution.
Alonso ultimately resumed his planned programme and finished the day eighth overall, 1.269s behind pacesetter Lewis Hamilton, and at the front of the closely-contested midfield group.
“Being the first day of the season, there were a lot of things we wanted to test,” he said.
“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.”
Vandoorne rounded out the top 10 for McLaren, less than a tenth of a second down on Alonso.
“We had a very productive day, so I’m looking forward to putting all the pieces together with the set-up for tomorrow and seeing where we’re at,” he said.
“I think we’re in reasonable shape and the feeling in the car is positive – it feels like we’ve got something to work with.
“Everything is running as we want it to, and we just need to keep pushing forward to gain performance.
“The most important thing was to go through our programme and we did that, and I’m excited about the possibility of running in a wet qualifying tomorrow.
“I think we’re in a very close group with some other teams, and the conditions will make things a bit more difficult for everyone.”
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