Fernando Alonso has revealed that Friday practice has become frustrating for him as the McLaren F1 Team have switched focus to the 2019 car since the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard finished eighteenth and seventeenth in the two practice sessions, and while he was happy to be back in Suzuka he hinted that it wasn’t a fun day.
“It’s always nice to be back here.” said Alonso
“The circuit feels always amazing in these cars and today was good learning. Most of our preparation work today was on next year’s project, so a lot of information to gather about the car.
“Since Hungary, we have basically been using Friday sessions to do some tests to ensure that the car for next season works in the right way.
“This means it’s a little bit more frustrating in terms of finding the best performance this weekend, but it’s good information for the team – and we’ll see tomorrow where we are.”
With Japan on lockdown with an incoming typhoon, Alonso is hoping the rain arrives sooner rather than later.
“The weather will play a big factor tomorrow and some rain would help us, as it looks like in dry conditions we’ll suffer.”
