Fernando Alonso Not sure if there will be more overtaking

In Melbourne, the Alpine F1 returned to a more familiar blue-dominated color scheme, with both team drivers showing good times in practice.

Fernando Alonso (4th): “During the first practice there were some difficulties that got in the way a bit, but we still managed to train quite normally.

We drove a lot of laps and in both sessions we collected a lot of information. There are also some balance issues, especially on long series of laps with a high fuel load.

Of course I studied the track yesterday and I think the changes are quite positive. Circle we’ll pass much faster now, although I’m not sure if there will be more overtaking – in general we’ll see. Still, it’s great to be back in Melbourne.”

Esteban Ocon (6th): “Overall the day was quite positive for the team, both cars are in the top ten, although it is clear that the main events will be tomorrow and Sunday. But we can already say that the results will be very compact – it was the same in Bahrain and Jeddah.

The rivalry is very intense, especially in the middle of the pack, so we will try to sort everything out and prepare well for qualifying.”

Alan PermainSports director: “While the track in Albert Park used to be one of the most uneven, it now has a very smooth surface after the reconstruction and the ring configuration has become more organic.

In terms of results, we can be satisfied with the speed of the machines in both sessions, but there is still work to be done. First of all we have to try to find a more correct approach to the soft rubber to show a good time in qualifying.

We ran the Medium and Hard tires on long laps to measure the race pace, and it looks like it’s almost predicted.

It won’t be easy to overtake on Sunday, so it’s important to work as efficiently as possible in qualifying.”