Fernando Alonso reveals 'near impossible' task at new Spanish GP circuit

Fernando Alonso has explained he faces a task he has described as "nearly impossible" in his attempt to salvage a crumb of home comfort this weekend.

On the opening day of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at the new Madring circuit in Madrid, Alonso's FP2, in particular, was badly compromised by a clutch issue with his Aston Martin at the start of second practice he suffered following his practice starts at the end of FP1.

As Alonso noted, the lack of early running in that session put him "out of sync", and "a little bit behind the programme", completing just 16 laps in contrast to a number of drivers who posted lap totals in the mid-20s.

Alonso eventually finished 17th quickest, offering a glimmer of hope he may qualify in Q2, albeit aided by the fact that McLaren's Lando Norris failed to post a time due to his MCL60 encountering a gearbox problem which required a change.

Assessing what might be possible going into the race, the two-time F1 champion does not doubt that the imposing 22 corners of the Madring will mean "it's going to be hard to overtake".

As for himself in the AMR26, he said: "For us, nearly impossible with the deficit on the straight, so qualifying will be important.

"At the same time, with the walls that close, the possibilities of a safety car or red flags, all these kinds of things, we need to stay focused. We need to see the chequered flag, do our own race.

"Whatever is the result in qualifying, I think there's still hope for Sunday, if we do a perfect execution of the race."

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Alonso calls for 'fix' on 'a couple of things

Surprisingly, despite the pre-event suggestion there would be numerous incidents in the lead-up to the weekend given the tricky nature of the track, there was only one red flag across the two hours of practice running.

That was sparked by Racing Bulls' Arvid Lindblad 35 minutes into FP2 as he lost control of the rear of his car through the fast Turn 13 left-hander.

Traffic was also a problem, as Alonso discovered, and whilst he is confident of an improvement in qualifying, there are ongoing issues with the Honda power unit that will not aid his cause.

"It was tricky out there with the traffic, but it was our mistake to be out of sync," said Alonso. "Tomorrow in quali should be better.

"But it's going to be tricky to get it right, with tyre temperature and battery state of charge at the end of the lap, sometimes, if you do a different driving style in the last few corners, it seems that we are very sensitive to that with the Honda power unit.

"There are a couple of things that we are discovering, and we need to fix for sure."