Fernando Alonso admits he is still in pain from his rib injuries but remains determined to drive through it after being cleared to race at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Following provisional clearance yesterday Alonso completed another medical after FP1, giving him the all-clear to complete the weekend. The FIA stipulated the Spaniard must immediately stop racing if he feels any "abnormal symptoms" in the ribs he fractured during his violent crash in Australia.
Though there is still pain there Alonso says it is nothing he cannot deal with in the cockpit.
"Yeah I felt good, obviously I missed the car a lot in the last 26 days and yeah I'm happy to be back," the Spaniard said after FP2. "Even if we are not competitive I love to be in the car and racing. Still in a little bit of pain because it has not completely recovered, there is still a little bit of fracturing and also it's a circuit with a lot of very long right corners, so that's not a good combination.
"It's normal but it's a pain that you can manage in the race I guess and now today it was important to try both of the compounds and the tyres a little bit because we have forecast of rain tomorrow and for qualifying so this was the only chance to test the tyres for the race on Sunday, so we maximise the programme and we are happy with the results but we need to find a little bit more performance in the car."
Alonso will not be wearing anything extra in the cockpit to help his ribs deal with the strains of driving a modern Formula One car.
"No, we are very tight in the seat so I think that's the best thing we have because it's our shape and we are not moving at all there so that's the best thing to not have any problem. It's a Formula One car, it is quite stiff. Every bump you feel it, every curb you feel it, but that's the worst thing. I'm happy and I'm ready to race."