After two consecutive retirements due to different failures in the French engine, Fernando Alonso landed in one of his favorite events, that of Japan, which this Friday saw the return of the highest category of motorsport after two years of absence due to COVID -19.
If Suzuka is characterized by something, beyond the specific characteristics of its layout, it is the always indecipherable weather, which surprised the teams on this first day of action with heavy rains that disrupted their programs.
In wet conditions, Fernando Alonso finished first in Free Practice 1 and fell back a few positions at the end of Free Practice 2, an unusual result for Alpine and one that makes it possible to dream of achieving a great result this weekend at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix of Formula 1.
At the end of the first day of action at Suzuka, the Asturian driver explained his feelings and acknowledged being “excited” about what might happen in this Grand Prix.
“It’s been a good day for us, it’s great to be back at Suzuka. Although the rain hasn’t really helped our preparations much, I feel sorry for the fans who stayed in the stands in this weather throughout. day. I always prefer it dry, to be honest.”
” The car felt good in both sessions today and it was nice to finish in first place at the end of Free Practice 1.”
” I am excited for what can happen tomorrow, let’s see what we can do in conditions that are possibly dry,” Alonso concluded.
Pat Fry , Alpine technical director, was more cautious than the Spanish rider: “Today was an unrepresentative day as we could only use one set of intermediate tires and the data is limited. But we were able to do a lot of laps to get an idea the balance of the car in these conditions, as well as working on our starting system.
The Enstone team recognized that the third free practice session this Saturday will be essential for the aspirations of all the teams for this weekend at the Suzuka circuit.
“At the moment it looks like tomorrow will be dry conditions, so Free Practice 2 will be very important, we will have to do everything that we would normally do on a Friday; a mixture of tire evaluation and operation with high and low fuel consumption.” .
“There is a threat of rain for race day, but it looks like it will be right after the race, so we still have to be prepared for all conditions,” Pat Fry said in closing.
