Fernando Alonso heads into his home Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya full of excitement, with the Spaniard admitting the atmosphere at the circuit is always ‘crazy’.
The McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team racer has long been a firm favourite with the fans in Spain, and has rewarded them with two wins there, although he has failed to finish a Spanish Grand Prix since finishing sixth whilst racing for Scuderia Ferrari in 2014.
“I’m really excited about returning to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix,” said Alonso. “It’s my home race, I’ve had some great times there, and the atmosphere is always crazy.
“We spend a lot of time there in pre-season testing, but there’s nothing quite like the emotion of racing there in front of your home fans. It’s a very special feeling.“
Alonso admits he is unsure what to expect from the weekend in Spain, with the Spaniard yet to see the chequered flag in any of the four races so far, failing even to start the Russian Grand Prix two weeks ago due to more technical problems on his MCL32.
“After a run of difficult races for us, I’m not sure what we can expect from this weekend,” admitted Alonso. “We’re expecting some various new parts – which we bring to every race – but we can’t really focus too much on performance until we have solved our reliability issues. That’s always our focus.
“I know the team is working extremely hard to get to the bottom of our recent problems, and I am hopeful we can have a smooth race and a weekend with very few issues. For me, qualifying has been an exciting session in the past few races and I hope we can repeat that in Barcelona, but the most important thing will be to maximise whatever grid slot we achieve on Saturday, on race day.”
