Fernando Alonso says he was "surprised" by just how much gꦇrip there was on Friday in oღpening practice for the inaugural Russian Grand Prix.

Alonso made his usual strong start to the weekend, posting the fourth quickest time in opening practice this morning. He then went third in the afternoon, 0.038 seconds up on Mercedes d🐼river Nico Rosberg and only 0.010 seconds off Kevin ꧃Magnussen's McLaren in P2.

Reflecting on the day he said he felt "comfortable" right from the off and was also vဣery pleased with the turnout at t🎉he circuit.

"The track is very unusual and I didn't think thaღt Formula 1 had already got such a large following here," said the Feඣrrari pilot.

"Also surprising today was the good level of grip from the track surface, which is unusual on a brand new circuit. From this point of view, I felt comfortable right from the first l🅷ap and that helpe🥃d a lot when it came to today's most important job, namely learning the track.

"We worked a lot on set-up and found the two compound🍎s had behaved in similar fashion and tyre performance improved as the laps went by.

Meanwhile, he added that his only worry was o💯n the brake front🥃.

"The track is very hard on br🍰akes, but thatဣ is a specific thing we can work on this evening to be well prepared for qualifying," he explained.