Alonso looking forward to home race this weekend before Indy 500

Fernando Alonso got his first taste of an IndyCAR a couple of weeks ago in a test session and will be eager for his debut at the Indy 500. But first on the calendar is the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. Although the MCL32 is not the beast that it used to be, Alonso still remains positive and is excited to be racing at his home circuit once again.

“I’m really excited about returning to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix,” he said “It’s my home race, I’ve had some great times there, and the atmosphere is always crazy. We spend a lot of time there in pre-season testing, but there’s nothing quite like the emotion of racing there in front of your home fans. It’s a very special feeling.”

However, the Spaniard is being realistic with regard to the prospects during the race. He says that the team are bringing new parts, which is being done every race, but will be focusing on reliability rather than performance.

“I know the team is working extremely hard to get to the bottom of our recent problems, and I am hopeful we can have a smooth race and a weekend with very few issues. For me, qualifying has been an exciting session in the past few races and I hope we can repeat that in Barcelona, but the most important thing will be to maximise whatever grid slot we achieve on Saturday, on race day.”

Alonso has won the Spanish GP twice with different manufacturers namely Renault and Ferrari. But since 2007, there have been 10 different winners starting from Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel, Pastor Maldonado, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Max Verstappen. Will Valtteri Bottas be the 11th different Spanish GP winner, or will Red Bull with their upgrades put forward Aussie driver Daniel Ricciardo as their candidate? We will have to wait until the lights go out on Sunday.