Fernando Alonso satisfied

“The Bahrain circuit is the first circuit so demanding in terms of braking this season,” explains Pat Symonds. “With this concern in mind, we therefore spent some time today with a higher fuel load than usual, in order to concentrate on our setup for Sunday. Later in the session we performed more competitively. As always on Friday, the timesheet does not exactly reflect the true hierarchy, but we think we have made good progress since the start of the season.

Fernandon Alonso did many laps today. Discreet at the start of the day, it then gained momentum at the end of the session. “It was very hot today and, even in Malaysia, the track temperature was not that high,” confides the Spaniard. “We validated our brake cooling configuration and evaluated both types of tires to be sure everything works well in these particular conditions. We are satisfied with the work done and we have reviewed our entire program. »

Nelson Piquet, for his part, discovered his car equipped with the new diffuser: “A good start to the weekend for me. I was able to use the new diffuser for the first time today, although it remains difficult to quantify its contribution. I think we still need to improve the handling of the car for the third free practice session, but we have collected some interesting data. I hope to have a strong qualifying session tomorrow, but I think it will be difficult to get into the top 10. »