Fernando Alonso was excused from team duties yesterday as he sought to recover from an ear infection in an attempt to get his Formula One championship challenge underway at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Renault driver has a deep affection of the Sepang Circuit which the two-time Malaysian GP winner described “as a special track for me and it’s probably my favourite circuit so I always enjoy racing here.”
“There are lots of fast, sweeping corners and it’s a circuit where you can really, really appreciate the performance of a Formula One car,” said Spaniard Alonso in a team statement
Alonso won for the first time in Sepang in 2005 en route to claiming the first of his two driver’s world championships for Renault before coming out tops again in 2007, this time for McLaren-Mercedes.
After returning to Renault last year, Alonso struggled to make an impact with an under-performing car although he did finish the season on a high with wins in Singapore and Japan late in the year.
Alonso finished fifth in the opening race of the season in Australia and is confident of at least matching that at Sepang.
“Sepang is totally different to Melbourne and so I expect our car to be more suited to the circuit,” he said.
Despite suffering from an ear infection, a Renault team spokeswoman said Alonso should be fine for the first practice sessions today.
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