Formula One’s second free practice session started later than it was scheduled to Friday, but Fernando Alonso apparently didn’t expect it to get underway at all.
After the conclusion of FP2, the McLaren-Honda driver said it was raining so heavily at Suzuka Circuit that he was caught off guard when the FIA decided to break out the green flag 45 minutes into the 90-minute session, according to Crash.net.
“I was caught a bit by surprise when they announced the afternoon session was actually going to start because I was still chatting in the motorhome and didn’t even have my race suit on,” Alonso said.
Although some drivers, such as Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lance Stroll, were caught out by the rain, Alonso claims he didn’t have a hard time. Even still, he only felt the need to complete an out lap and an in lap during FP2.
“Actually conditions were not that bad when I did my run, but there was no reason to carry on running in the rain because it’s 100 percent certain the race will be in the dry,” the Spaniard said. “Qualifying should be dry too, so there was no reason to risk anything today.”
Despite the fact that Alonso took his time getting ready for the practice session, and didn’t spend much time in the car, he hardly lost any track time compared to other drivers. Stroll and Lewis Hamilton completed the most laps of anybody in the field, with four apiece.
Thumbnail photo via Honda Racing
