• Chinese Grand Prix - FP2

Alonso searching for right strategy

ESPN Staff
April 12, 2013 « Horner insists he's in control | 'Like driving two completely different cars' - Massa »
Fernando Alonso was third quickest in Friday's afternoon practice session © Getty Images
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Fernando Alonso says Friday practice for the Chinese Grand Prix has shown that the race strategy will be crucial.

With Pirelli supplying its soft tyres for the first time this season, many drivers have complained about the performance of the option compound. While Alonso stopped short of criticising Pirelli, he said the work overnight would be focusing on ensuring the team takes the right strategic approach to the rest of the weekend.

"By the end of the day, the overall feeling is positive," Alonso said. "We worked well and on top of that, it's always great fun driving the Shanghai track which has some really unique features, such as the first corner. From one session to the next the track conditions improved significantly, because the other categories that ran after our morning session cleaned the surface. The increase in temperature means the conditions were very similar to those predicted for tomorrow.

"Once again, tyres will play a key role in this Grand Prix because of the high level of degradation over a long run. We will have to ensure we pick the right strategy for Sunday, as well as deciding on which of the new parts we tried this morning to fit to the car. As usual, we can expect a long evening studying the data."

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