Alonso expects advantage from Friday test

Alonso, who returns to an F1 race seat after a year out, says the two-hour session will give the team extra information over the its rivals and give it a head start at the Albert Park street circuit.

"It will definitely be a good advantage over the other new drivers," said Alonso. "Melbourne is the kind of circuit where you always need more laps. It is impossible to test there during the year, it's a track you always need to relearn. It will be fantastic for me to have those extra two hours, especially for qualifying on Friday afternoon."

He added: "Last year the engineers only had to focus on race set-up on Friday, now they need to think about the race, but also make the car quick for the afternoon [qualifying]. There are always lots of retirements in Melbourne, so if you can get through the race, the 90 percent of the time you can pick up something."