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Although Alonso and McLaren have discussed the conduct of the Spanish in 2019, it will be the drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris who will perform all the winter tests of the team before the first one. race.
As part of his new ambassador role announced Wednesday, Alonso will conduct "selected tests" during the year, while he will assist McLaren in the development of the MCL34 and the car's Next year.
While Sainz is in his first year with McLaren and Norris making their Grand Prix debut this season, Alonso thinks driving the car in pre-season testing would have been a mistake.
"To be honest, I do not miss driving the car because I know that they have a very complex testing program," Alonso said.
"They do some tests to get an answer before Australia." In the afternoon, they embark on the race simulation they need to test the tires, their behavior.
"The pilots have to learn how the team reacts in different racing scenarios, so I think the timing is very valuable for the race drivers, I probably know most of these procedures and they miss that time. even feel bad.
"I think this week in particular, I do not miss tests," added Alonso.
Alonso drove the Formula 1 machines for the last time at the end of last year and only attended the second test in Barcelona since.
The double champion admitted that looking from the sideline had been a pretty different experience.
"It's different because you see a broader approach to everything," he said. "It was very different, but at the same time, we focused a lot on our car.
"As I said, this car was probably born last year and we had a lot of hope in some areas and some of them met the expectations, some of which probably exceeded expectations and some of them. others still need time. "
The Spaniard said he was impressed by the form of Ferrari in the first practice session after the Italian team became favorites for many, considering its speed and reliability.
"I think everyone was impressed the first week, they were very strong," Alonso said of his former team. "Not only with the performance, but also the number of rounds that they do everyday, I remember that last year it was kind of a similar thing.
"They were very strong all winter and in the first two races, but the championship is long and as long as we have a tight championship like last year, we will all be happy."
Fernando Alonso watches the action
Photo by: LAT Images
