Fernando Alonso: “It was a Friday very similar to the others”

Regular session for the two Scuderia Ferrari single-seaters in the first afternoon of activity on the Buddh International Circuit. A dry track and the usual smoggy fog were the backdrop to an intense testing program which saw Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa complete 39 and 41 laps respectively. In the final ranking, the Spanish driver achieved the fifth fastest time overall, lapping in 1'26"430, while Felipe finished in seventh place with a time of 1'26"601.

In the morning Alonso had only completed six laps due to gearbox problems. In less than two hours the technicians identified and resolved the problem, allowing Fernando to be on track regularly in the second free practice session. The Spaniard completed the first 'run' of the session on Medium tyres, covering seven laps. Massa completed ten laps in the first thirty minutes of testing, using the same compound as Fernando. The Spaniard returned to the track a second time with the same set of tyres, covering seven laps and lowering his time to 1'27”598.

At this stage the Spaniard has recovered some of the work lost in the morning session. Halfway through the session, Alonso took to the track on Soft tires for his qualifying simulation, setting a time of 1'26”430 on the first flying lap. With the same tires Massa had previously achieved a time of 1'26”601 at the end of the second flying lap. In the last forty minutes of the session, the traditional race simulations were carried out, with Massa and Alonso alternating the two tire compounds available for the Indian weekend, obtaining good results with different fuel loads.

Fernando Alonso: “It was a Friday very similar to the others, with the exception of a mechanical problem I had in the morning which reduced my time on the track. Fortunately this did not affect the program too much, which in the first session essentially involved laps to regain confidence with the track. It's always important to find the feeling with the track and above all to test the tyres, which are very important here. Even though we have an initial idea of ​​both the race pace and tire degradation, we must consider that compared to today the track conditions on Sunday will be very different. Here the situation isn't much different compared to the last races, we're a little behind in terms of performance and tomorrow we have to try to get a good position to get a good start in the race and get on the podium."