Parente's late change of plans

Around lunchtime last Thursday Alvaro Parente was at the Algarve circuit, working with his day job of developing McLaren's MP4-12C GT racer. The next morning, he was out on track again, but this time it was at Barcelona, and he was strapped into a GP2 car. As you can imagine, making that happen was a bit of a rush.

The former British F3 and World Series by Renault champion only heard of a potential mad Iberian dash on the previous evening, when he received a phone call from Racing Engineering GP2 boss Alfonso de Orleans Borbon offering him the seat vacated by the injured Christian Vietoris.

What followed was a crazy 24 hours. Firstly, Parente had to check that his McLaren commitments would allow him to get to Barcelona in time. Fortunately for him, plans for the car to be raced at Navarra had been cancelled some time ago, so his weekend was indeed free.

But it still wasn't straightforward. Parente didn't leave the McLaren test until 1pm, and at 8pm Racing Engineering was busy sorting out collecting him from the airport. While the other teams were just finishing off dinner at the track, the Spanish squad was preparing for a long night.

Parente takes up the story: 'It was a very tight schedule. I was testing on the Thursday so we had to see if it was possible to get to Barcelona. It was, so we arranged it and I arrived late at the track Thursday night. We were making the seat until 1:30am! It was all done very quickly, but the team did well so I just wanted to do my best for them as a thank you for inviting me."

Although Parente received a similar call-up from Coloni towards the end of last year, this one came as quite a shock, particularly because since signing his deal with McLaren, the Portuguese driver put single seaters to the back of his mind.

Parente was due to be racing one of these...

"It was a big surprise," he says. "I was not expecting it, even though you always think that maybe someone will call. But it was not like last year, when I was still racing single seaters in Superleague, so I had the rhythm already. Plus, last year was the old car and the old tyres, which I had raced before, so I knew I could jump straight in and be fine."

He had his work cut out adapting to GP2, 2011-style, particularly with the fragile Pirelli tyres. But he knew that before he said yes to the offer, and there were never any doubts in his mind about taking the chance.

"You can't turn down a chance like this," he says. "The only reason I wouldn't have done it would have been if I already had another commitment. But if you have the slightest doubt, you shouldn't go, because it will make it even harder. I was close to that, but no, I still wanted to do it."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, day one didn't go too well. Fourteenth in practice became 15th in qualifying, but in the races Parente went forward on his way to notching up 11th and seventh place finishes. He'd known to expect a baptism of fire, and that's exactly what he got.

"It's a different story to when I jumped in at the end of last year," he says. "A lot has changed, but it was still a chance. I've always been adventurous with trying new things and trying to be fast in anything - but I had to get it all back together very quickly!

"Even though I raced here for two years - when something as important as the tyre changes, that is everything. The car is a bit different too, aero wise and with the pitch sensitivity. So there was a lot to adapt to. You come in against guys who have raced in the Asia Series, had pre-season testing and another race in Turkey, and you have 30 minutes of practice.

"Then, because the tyres only last one lap before they start to go off it's very hard to adapt to. I was expecting to be faster than I was to start with, but you have to remember that it was not going to be easy. Everybody knew what was going on with the tyres, I was just warned by the team what to expect!"

In the end, Parente didn't score any points, but he was still pleased with his weekend. And with Vietoris sitting out this weekend's races at Monaco too, he has a chance to add a victory on the world's most famous street circuit.

But ended up in a GP2 garage © LAT

Long-term, Parente, 26, knows that his future more than likely belongs away from single seaters now. But that doesn't mean that he has any ill-feeling about the way his career is panning out.

"It was a big challenge last weekend, but I like challenges, and saying yes to the offer was straightforward. I was very happy to come back to GP2, and I'm very happy with McLaren. To be linked with a constructor is great.

"What can I say? I'm doing what I love, what I know best, and I'm getting paid for it."

A full-time job with McLaren and the odd opportunity to dabble in Formula 1's feeder category? Doesn't sound like a bad existence at all. No wonder he was smiling so much last weekend.