- Brazilian Grand Prix - Ferrari
Alonso pleased to get in wet running
Fernando Alonso said that a tricky pair of Friday practice sessions were good knowledge ahead of a forecast wet Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.
All of Friday's running took place on either the intermediate or wet tyres as rain rarely relented throughout the day at Interlagos, with Alonso fifth quickest in the opening session but dropping out of the top ten in FP2. Explaining how difficult conditions had been, Alonso said he was grateful to learn as much as possible in case the race is also wet.
"It's always hard to get much running when it rains here, as the level of water on track is never consistent and can affect lap times by two to three seconds," Alonso said. "Each time you go off the racing line you then have to try and understand the track conditions at that precise moment, because there are no absolute values. But given that the forecast for the weekend is similar to today's, we can say that, even if it was short, it was a good practice.
"Qualifying and the race will be very complicated from the strategy point of view and, on that front this evening we will have to come up with a good plan. To do well here, you also need a bit of luck, because in conditions like this, being in the right place at the right time is always a help."
Team-mate Felipe Massa said both drivers had opted to do all of their running on the intermediates in anticipation of the rest of the weekend.
"Today was a difficult day, complicated by the rain in both the morning and afternoon," he said. "With the track wet throughout, we chose to do not much running and what we did was on Intermediates. That way we managed to save the sets of Extreme Wets, in expectation of very variable weather over the weekend. It's hard to establish how the weekend will go, because even if we weren't quick today in the rain, it's too early to say what conditions will best suit our car. It will definitely be important to use the tyres well and to get confident with the track.
"For me, this is a very special weekend, my last race with Ferrari on my home track. I am racing here with an all-red helmet and a fantastic race suit, given me as a sign of affection by my team, with whom I hope to end the season in the best way possible."
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