Fernando Alonso believes McLaren faces a “hard battle” if it is to return to the top 10 during qualifying in Singapore – but emphasised he isn’t fussed if the team misses out.
Alonso has only made Q3 twice during a difficult final season in Formula 1 with McLaren, the most recent of those coming at May’s Monaco Grand Prix.
Alonso finished eighth during practice for the Singapore Grand Prix, with McLaren having identified the Marina Bay Street Circuit as more suitable to its MCL33.
In Full: Singapore FP2 results
“Yes, we were eighth quickest but we know [Sebastian] Vettel couldn’t finish his lap, [Nico] Hulkenberg was quicker all day but then didn’t get the lap in with the Hyper,” said Alonso.
“And that would put me down in 10th, so we will be fighting on the cusp of Q3.
“The Force India had gone quicker early [in the] running, but not so much in FP2, so the battle will be a hard one.
“[But] it was a bit of a surprising gap between the tyres, around 1.5s between compounds, more than we expected and the negative thing is that the Hypers have a lot of degradation and graining in the long runs.
“So those who will be in Q3 will have to deal with it in the first few laps of the race while those starting from P11 will have a good chance to make the most out of it in the race.
“We’ll, obviously, be happy if we make it to Q3 but we’ll also be happy if we’re not because on Sunday it will be payback time. It may be a good weekend for us in terms of points.”
Team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne finished at the back in FP1, having been beset by mechanical problems, and placed a low-key 16th in the second session.
“There were a few issues on our car and we missed nearly the whole session,” he rued.
“Definitely not ideal around Singapore where it is important to get a good rhythm to have those laps and build up during the weekend.”
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