Fernando Alonso says Friday practice for the Australian Grand Prix went "better than expected" for McLaren despite the limited running.
FP1 and FP2 were disrupted by changing conditions, with the latter run on intermediate tyres due to afternoon rain. While some others opted for limited running, Alonso and team-mate Jenson Button completed 29 laps between them in the second session.
Though McLaren expects different track conditions on Saturday Alonso thinks the team has started the weekend on a good footing.
"Tomorrow everything will be different because we're expecting a dry track and no wind, so conditions will be completely different," he said. "Today things went well so we can enjoy the moment. Tomorrow in free practice we still have a few things to try because today we didn't have the dry conditions we needed to try them - brakes, ride heights and others - but today the car had no issues and that's a good start and a good sign.
"Today was a positive day but tomorrow, when it will be dry, we won't be as well placed in the time sheets as we were today. But so far things have gone better than expected."
Alonso admits he had been bracing himself to a tricky start to the weekend, which made the positive feedback all the more encouraging.
"I'm happy to be back in the car, in a different track and finally at the moment of the truth. You can be for days in Barcelona running with the same set-up and everything is perfect and then get to another track and get a surprise. For us the surprise was a positive one so I'm happy with that."