F1 | McLaren: Alonso 12th, penalty for Vandoorne

A difficult first day of free practice in Sochi for Stoffel Vandoorne. The McLaren driver will suffer a 15-place grid penalty at the Russian GP after his car was fitted with the fifth MGU-K unit and turbocharger of the season.
The Belgian will therefore start from the back of the grid.

“We had engine problems again in FP1, so we will have a 15 place grid penalty this weekend,” said Vandoorne. “However, it was only a matter of time as we have been having problems since the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, today was a complicated day but we have to try to give our best to progress. There is not much we can do in the current situation. However, we hope to have improvements soon. Even Free Practice 2 wasn't 100% problem-free, but at least we were able to do a few laps. Let's hope we don't have any problems tomorrow” he added.

His teammate, Fernando Alonso, set the 12th fastest time: “This is a circuit where power is key, so, with our car basically in the same configuration as in Bahrain, we don't expect to make a step forward this weekend. weekend. I think it will be an interesting weekend in terms of what we can achieve on a very difficult track for us,” said Alonso. “We have tested the tires during the sessions, they seem to last a long time and seem very consistent, so the race is likely to be a one-stop based race, as expected. Also, the tires seem to take a bit of time to get up to temperature, so in qualifying the first lap probably won't be the best, we'll have to do more. It's like this for everyone, but we need to find a way to speed up the time it takes for the tires to reach temperature. We've done our Friday homework, we'll see what we can learn tomorrow."