Alonso confident for the weekend

Unusual weather conditions and software problems disrupted Renault's programme today. But Fernando Alonso is still confident for the rest of the weekend.

Q: Fernando, how did the first day go?

Fernando Alonso.

Photo by xpb.cc.

Fernando Alonso: It was... a bit strange. First of all, the weather conditions are not exactly what we expected. There is no Hockenheim heatwave this year -- it was about 20°C today and it won't change much before Sunday. It nearly rained at the end of practice in fact. Then, we had some electronic problems this morning. That meant we only started running properly in the second session.

Q: Is that a handicap?

FA: Not really, because we don't usually do much running on Friday morning. We prefer to wait for the track conditions to improve to do our tyre comparisons, and that meant it didn't delay us too much. But it is never good to start the weekend with some technical problems.

Q: You ran a lot this afternoon -- 34 laps. Did you complete your programme?

FA: Yes, it was not a problem. We have got the information we need to choose our tyres for the weekend.

Q: How is the car handling?

FA: It is well balanced, and seems consistent. We have a good level of performance, because we are higher up the times than usual on Friday. I am the second race driver, and that's encouraging. But the McLarens seem very quick and we will have a big fight this weekend. We will know more tomorrow, because we still have to work on the set-up to find some speed.

Q: Will it be a problem if it rains...?

FA: Not as long as we are ready for it. The engineers took the cold conditions and the possibility of rain into account when they prepared our programmes today. After that, the forecast for the rest of the weekend will dictate how we prepare. But I am feeling optimistic.

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