Showing posts with label f1 2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label f1 2016. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Alonso ‘preparing as normal’ for China but in doubt for race again
Fernando Alonso may not be able to race again in this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix but says he is making his usual pre-race preparations.
The McLaren driver will undergo a medical evaluation on Thursday to determine whether he can participate in the weekend. He sat out the Bahrain Grand Prix after failing a pre-race medical check due to rib injuries he suffered in a crash during the first race of the season.
“While I hope I’ll be back in the cockpit on Friday, until I get the all-clear from the doctors to race – whenever that may be – we cannot assume anything,” he said. “But I’m continuing to prepare for the race weekend as normal.”
Stoffel Vandoorne will be on standby again to take over if Alonso is unable to race. He scored the team’s only point of the season so far on his debut in Bahrain.
“Stoffel did a great job in Bahrain,” said Alonso, “and although Jenson suffered reliability issues, it was positive to see that both cars ran quite strongly during the weekend.”
“It was also interesting for me to see the race weekend unfold from a different perspective, which helped me to understand everything that goes into getting the cars on track and learn a lot about the different processes, although I’d still prefer to be racing.”
Alonso says rib pain is “manageable” after first day back in car
Fernando Alonso says he can cope with the pain from his injured ribs after returning to action for the first time since his Australian Grand Prix crash.
Alonso completed a total of 42 laps in practice on Friday – 14 shy of a race distance at the Shanghai International Circuit – and said he was pleased with how it went.
“I felt good,” Alonso told reporters. “Obviously I miss a lot the feeling of being in the car. Even if we are not super competitive I love what I do and I love to be in the car, racing.”
“A little bit of pain, no surprises there. The rib is still a little bit fractured so that’s normal. And also it’s a circuit that has a very long corners, right corners, that’s not a good combination.”
“It’s manageable, the pain, there is no other risk this time to be on the car so that’s the positive thing.”
Between the two sessions the FIA announced Alonso had been declared fit to compete in the rest of the race weekend. With rain expected tomorrow, Alonso said it was useful to take advantage of today’s dry running.
“It was important to be in the car today and put in a little bit of laps because tomorrow we have some rain forecast for qualifying so today was the only opportunity to test the dry tyres for the race for Sunday,” he said.
“We are happy with the results, we need to find a little bit more performance in the car because I think we can be a little bit more competitive compared with what we saw today and we need to work on that tonight.”
Alonso completed a total of 42 laps in practice on Friday – 14 shy of a race distance at the Shanghai International Circuit – and said he was pleased with how it went.
“I felt good,” Alonso told reporters. “Obviously I miss a lot the feeling of being in the car. Even if we are not super competitive I love what I do and I love to be in the car, racing.”
“A little bit of pain, no surprises there. The rib is still a little bit fractured so that’s normal. And also it’s a circuit that has a very long corners, right corners, that’s not a good combination.”
“It’s manageable, the pain, there is no other risk this time to be on the car so that’s the positive thing.”
Between the two sessions the FIA announced Alonso had been declared fit to compete in the rest of the race weekend. With rain expected tomorrow, Alonso said it was useful to take advantage of today’s dry running.
“It was important to be in the car today and put in a little bit of laps because tomorrow we have some rain forecast for qualifying so today was the only opportunity to test the dry tyres for the race for Sunday,” he said.
“We are happy with the results, we need to find a little bit more performance in the car because I think we can be a little bit more competitive compared with what we saw today and we need to work on that tonight.”
McLaren deserved Q3 place sooner – Alonso
Fernando Alonso says McLaren deserved to reach Q3 earlier than they did after he took one of the team’s cars into the top ten for the first time in their current association with Honda.
“Today is the first time in a long while that I haven’t watched Q3 on television,” he remarked.
“But, in truth, we probably deserved this result a couple of races ago,” Alonso added.
As he will line up tenth on the grid Alonso is likely to be the lowest qualifier who will start the race on used tyres, putting him at a strategic disadvantage. Alonso admitted this may make points-scoring difficult.
“That’ll require some thought because, for the first time this year, we’ll be starting on used Q2 tyres – we don’t have a free choice, which is a slight handicap that we’ll look to recover somehow.,” he said.
“Nonetheless, we should be thinking about moving forwards tomorrow and doing that here is usually all about the start and the pit stops.”
“Put it this way – I don’t think we’ll see too much overtaking tomorrow. That means we really need to focus on the start, and then look after our tyres because degradation is likely to be a factor.”
Jenson Button didn’t make the cut for the final ten and said he wasn’t entirely happy with his car’s handling.
“My car has been suffering from a loose-feeling rear end which isn’t how I like it to feel because it means I can’t fully commit into corners,” he said. “I tried my best, but driving around that handling characteristic has never been my strong point.”
“Today is the first time in a long while that I haven’t watched Q3 on television,” he remarked.
“But, in truth, we probably deserved this result a couple of races ago,” Alonso added.
As he will line up tenth on the grid Alonso is likely to be the lowest qualifier who will start the race on used tyres, putting him at a strategic disadvantage. Alonso admitted this may make points-scoring difficult.
“That’ll require some thought because, for the first time this year, we’ll be starting on used Q2 tyres – we don’t have a free choice, which is a slight handicap that we’ll look to recover somehow.,” he said.
“Nonetheless, we should be thinking about moving forwards tomorrow and doing that here is usually all about the start and the pit stops.”
“Put it this way – I don’t think we’ll see too much overtaking tomorrow. That means we really need to focus on the start, and then look after our tyres because degradation is likely to be a factor.”
Jenson Button didn’t make the cut for the final ten and said he wasn’t entirely happy with his car’s handling.
“My car has been suffering from a loose-feeling rear end which isn’t how I like it to feel because it means I can’t fully commit into corners,” he said. “I tried my best, but driving around that handling characteristic has never been my strong point.”
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