Alonso: 'We saw that in the morning and afternoon sessions'

The first free practice sessions in Monaco were full of surprises. Where Mercedes and Red Bull Racing usually fight for the first places this season, it was Ferrari that stood out. Fernando Alonso had to settle for a thirteenth and twelfth time.

The Spaniard noted that he is not facing an easy weekend. "Traffic management will be difficult, and we saw a snapshot of how tough it is to have a clean lap here in both the morning and afternoon sessions. Managing this well could be key to a good qualifying position on Saturday," he stated to Sky Sports.

"There are a lot of things to analyse as we tried some new updates, but we’ll look over it tonight and tomorrow and aim to be strong for qualifying," Alonso continued. "It was an intense day as it always is on Thursday in Monaco. I think we did a good job with 64 laps in total, building some confidence in the car, which is very useful, so I’m happy with that."

Two-time world champion Alonso is provisionally in 12th place in the world championship with five points. His teammate Esteban Ocon did better by gaining ten points for the time being.