Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMcLaren

Alonso expecting even harder time of it at Suzuka

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McLaren went to Singapore with high hopes of a good result, only to end up disappointed. Now, Fernando Alonso admits Suzuka will be even tougher.

"Singapore is now behind us, but Suzuka will surely be a challenge," said the two-time former world champion.

"Our pace was more encouraging in Singapore, but I think it will be harder for us at Suzuka due to the characteristics of the track."

Having to be so downbeat about the team's prospects at Suzuka clearly pained the Spanish racer, who regards his visit to Japan as one of the highlights of the season.

"I’m full of anticipation about going to Suzuka," he said. "Like Jenson, I have a strong affinity with Japan, I love the country and I’ve always been fascinated by its culture.

"I’ve also loved racing there and I’ve won both at Suzuka and Fuji, so it holds a lot of special memories for me.

"The fans are one-of-a-kind and the circuit absolutely deserves its legendary status - it’s one of the most exciting on the calendar."

Unfortunately, that track is unlikely to suit the current McLaren - not that many circuits have seemed to suited it, if truth been told, as the team struggles through a deeply disappointing and frustrating year in their first year back in partnership with Honda.

"Our car is well balanced and feels good to drive, but on a circuit with such a high average speed it will be difficult to beat our competitors.

"It’s a really tough circuit, and a huge test for the drivers, as a lot of it is really narrow and bumpy so you need absolute commitment into every corner.

"It has almost the opposite characteristics to Singapore in terms of set-up, so it’s a very different challenge."

Regardless of the difficulties in store for the team again this weekend, Alonso promised to pull out all the stops and try to deliver something special for the fans.

"Of course we’ll do everything we can to maximise our performance at what is a fantastic racetrack and Honda’s home Grand Prix.

"We’ll take the samurai spirit with us to Suzuka, and as usual we won’t give up," he promised.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.