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Fernando Alonso was pleased with his and Aston Martin’s performance during Thursday’s practice sessions at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, although he remained cautious about his prospects for the rest of the weekend despite making it through FP2.
Alonso was never far from leading the timesheets when the action began on the Jeddah Corniche circuit. The Spaniard finished the first hour of practice in second place, just over a tenth of a second behind Max Verstappen in P1.
READ MORE: FP2: Alonso is fastest during second practice in Saudi Arabia ahead of Russell and Verstappen
Alonso then moved up one place in second practice, with the 42-year-old setting the fastest lap of the day when he clocked a time of 1m 28.827s on the soft tire as the track got faster and faster.
After looking fast all day on Thursday, Alonso was asked how he was feeling after his particularly good performance in FP2.
“I feel good,” responded the two-time world champion. “Obviously they are just free practices. As we saw last year and also in Bahrain, we are faster in free practice than in qualifying. I think we apply different strategies, in terms of fuel loads, engine modes, etc.
“We keep our program forward. (There wasn’t) really any problem with the car. Configuration possibilities are also quite open for tomorrow. But yeah, it will definitely be a good Thursday for us.”
READ MORE: FP1: Verstappen leads Alonso and Pérez during first practice in Saudi Arabia
Asked for his opinion on Aston Martin’s long-run pace ahead of Saturday night’s Grand Prix, Alonso insisted he had no idea about it yet.
“We just jumped out of the car and we have to come here to talk to you, so I have no idea,” he added.
“It’s always a lot of fun to drive here” – Stroll smiling after the first day in Jeddah
It was also a decent day in Jeddah for Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll, who finished the first and second practice in ninth and sixth respectively, although the Canadian was shown a black and white flag for a limits violation. the track during FP2.
Stroll spoke positively about the experience of driving at the circuit, saying after the second hour of practice: “It’s a lot of fun to drive here, at very high speed. It’s very exciting in the car, so yeah, it’s cool.”
READ MORE: Alonso highlights the importance of the development race for Aston Martin as “they need to overcome this deficit”
And as for how he hopes to extract the AMR24’s potential over the rest of the weekend, the 25-year-old added: “Keep pushing.”