Formula 1

‘Intense’ Friday for Alonso in Austria as Part Testing Takes Priority

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Fernando Alonso - McLaren F1 Team
Credit: Steven Tee/McLaren

Fernando Alonso said that his Friday at the Red Bull Ring was ‘pretty intense’ after testing a number of new parts on his MCL33, and the work now is to analyse the way to be set the car up for the rest of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.

The McLaren F1 Team racer was down in seventeenth in the opening session on Friday morning but was nineteenth in the afternoon session, with his best time of the day 1.850 seconds off the ultimate pace set by Lewis Hamilton, but the day was pretty much dedicated to testing new parts, particularly in the aerodynamic department.

“This was a pretty intense day as we had a lot of items to test on the car, especially aero parts,” said Alonso.  “We completed the programme, now we just need to analyse the data and make sure we put the best parts on the car tomorrow to find a little more performance.”

Alonso feels the additional DRS zone introduced to the Red Bull Ring this weekend should benefit the racing, with the Spaniard feeling it will hopefully keep the field closer together and allow for more overtaking.  And with rain potentially set to hit on Saturday, he knows it is important for McLaren to get the best out of any situation that presents itself to them.

“Having an additional DRS zone is a good step: it will be difficult to get close to the car in front, especially in the middle sector, so three DRS zones will help to keep the group together,” said Alonso.  “Hopefully, it should provide more overtaking in the race.

“We expected rain today, but none came; it’s now on the forecast for tomorrow, so we need to be ready to maximise every opportunity that comes our way if the weather proves to be unpredictable.”

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