Alonso: Toyota WEC team spirit ‘difficult to find in F1’

Fernando Alonso is impressed by the team spirit he has found at Toyota’s LMP1 operation since his arrival over the winter, believing that such a strong team atmosphere is difficult to find in Formula 1.

Two-time F1 world champion and current McLaren driver Alonso will make his FIA World Endurance Championship debut at Spa this weekend with Toyota, acting as preparation for his first attempt at winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June and furthering his bid for the ‘triple crown of motorsport’, having taken a first step by entering the Indianapolis 500 in 2017.

Alonso will complete the WEC 'super season' racing in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid alongside Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, but is also enjoying support from the drivers in the sister car - Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi - as well as via team ambassador Alexander Wurz.

Asked by Crash.net at Spa on Wednesday how he had found working with his new Toyota colleagues, Alonso was quick to heap praise on the team.

“From day one, I found a great group of guys that are very productive working with all of them,” Alonso said.

“With Alex, we talked a lot last year when this idea came to my mind and I was sharing with him a lot. Obviously they all have great experience in endurance [racing].

“The team atmosphere is great. It’s something that is difficult to find in F1. I think it's probably the best part of the team, how everyone is a group here.

“I think any of the six [drivers] could match perfectly with the others. To be honest, I don’t see any differences between Car #7 and Car #8.

“Maybe on race day we will see some emotions there and one car will finish ahead of the other. Right now, we'll go to the hotel, maybe I go with Mike and Kazuki. Then I come back here with Kobayashi and Buemi. There are not two teams.

“We’re all on one table. It’s not a clear difference.”

One aspect of endurance racing that has been alien to Alonso through his single-seater career is sharing his car with others, resulting in compromises being made to best accommodate all three drivers. However, the Spaniard does not feel this had been too much of an issue for the #8 Toyota line-up so far.

"I think this car is not too complex in terms of adapting the setup for everyone," Alonso said. "It's more about the switches you have on the steering wheel. It depends driver to driver on how you want to drive the car with the hybrid system, how much you want to boost at the front, the rear, with different styles of driving, the same with the brake balance, how you want to adapt this into the corner.

"I think mechanically, or aerodynamically, the car setup is good for all three drivers. When it's good, all three drivers are saying it's good. When it's bad, all three drivers it's understeering or oversteering, so it's not a big problem to adapt.

"It's not a problem to share the car. Also the seat position and things like that, we're quite similar. I think Sebastien, Kazuki and myself, in terms of the body, height and things like that.

"I feel 100 percent comfortable and ready."