Fernando Alonso gets off to a good start in Melbourne

Fernando Alonso had a productive first day of testing at Albert Park, completing 48 laps of the track without encountering any particular problems on his F14 T with which he set the best time of the morning (1'31"840) before ending the day in third place, half a second behind the Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton.

“There’s always a little more pressure on the first Friday of the season. It’s the start of a new Championship and there’s always anticipation to see how the things we worked on over the winter work out.”, commented the double world champion. “It was a positive day for us and, although we were a little nervous due to the complexity of the new technical regulations, everything worked out well. The team did a superb job and we had no problems. The track improved between the two sessions: there was more grip compared to this morning and also more wind. The use of soft tires certainly helped to bring down the times, but it is impossible to have a clear idea of ​​our level of competitiveness. We will have to wait until everyone is driving in the same conditions. »

The final free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix will take place from 4 a.m. French time and can be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr. Discover the photos of the tests on this link.