F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Toyota's Vasselon: 'Alonso's integration remarkably easy'

Fernando Alonso's integration into the Toyota WEC squad has been smooth and easy says the team's technical director Pascal Vasselon.

The two-time F1 world champion is chasing a win at Le Mans and undertaking the WEC's full super season with Toyota.

Alonso's initiated his career in endurance racing with a win at Spa on board Toyota's TS0560 Hybrid which he shared with Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakagima. And he followed up that performance by topping the timesheet of last Sunday's Le Mans Test Day.

So far, it's been clear sailing for the Spaniard and the Japanese manufacturer.

"He's settled himself in the team in a way that makes things so easy," Vasselon told Motorsport.com.

"The guys know each other already. It's quite smooth. And he makes things smooth because he is coming with a pure and genuine motivation. It's remarkably easy so far."

Toyota team boss Rob Leupen admitted the McLaren driver was somewhat of an unknown quantity for the team given his lack of experience of endurance racing.

Alonso had kickstarted his preparation for Le Mans by running the Daytona 24 Hours earlier this year with Zak Brown's United Autosports outfit.

The Spaniard's massive racing acumen and talent made sure he was up to speed in no time with Toyota.

"We did take a bit of a risk," Leupen told Motorsport.com.

"Okay, he's a double world champion, but he's a rookie. He has to deal with traffic.

"We're not here with 20 cars on roughly the same level, there's gigantic differences. He needs to be able to judge that.

"At Spa we saw some really good moments of him. At one point he was stuck behind a GTE going into Turn 17 [Blanchimont] and he did that perfectly.

"That was really good and that gives confidence to the team that he can do it.

"He's 100 percent professional, easy-going and open. It gives the engineers and the mechanics an extra boost, extra motivation.

"I think we can be very happy that he chose to race with us. In hindsight it's been a very good move."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Sainz samples new Madring: ‘You’ve created quite a cocktail’

The Spanish Grand Prix’s future home is still surrounded by construction barriers, deadlines and heavy…

13 hours ago

Ten years on: Marko reveals Horner resisted Verstappen promotion

Helmut Marko has revealed that Max Verstappen’s in-season promotion from Toro Rosso to Red Bull…

14 hours ago

Schumacher and Irvine paint the town red in Monaco

On this day in 1999 in Monaco, a dominant Michael Schumacher secured his 35th career…

16 hours ago

Rosenqvist finds 233 mph magic at Indy on Fast Friday

Sometimes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, speed doesn’t build gradually – it arrives like it…

17 hours ago

McLaren powers up: Intel returns to F1 after 20-year hiatus

Nearly two decades after its last high-speed venture in Formula 1, American computing giant Intel…

18 hours ago

Verstappen admits to 'super tough' Nürburgring 24 Hours qualifying

Max Verstappen’s Nürburgring 24 Hours debut is already delivering the kind of storyline only he…

19 hours ago