The two-time world champion, who returned to F1 action after skipping the Monaco Grand Prix to compete in the Indianapolis 500, had to stop his car on track in FP1 with a hydraulic problem, which then also cost him time at the start of FP2 as McLaren repaired the car.

While Alonso climbed to seventh as the chequered flag came out at the end of the day's running, he said the day was of little use because of how compromised his running was.

"I wanted to come to the pitlane to try and solve the problem, but yeah, it's an engine issue with a hydraulic problem," said Alonso after the second session, in which he completed 19 laps while several drivers managed more than 40.

"We lost FP1 [13 laps] and then most of FP2 because we didn't have enough time to repair the car.

"It's a totally wasted Friday and not an easy start.

"Nonetheless we know the circuit, we've raced here many years, so we should know how to attack qualifying and the race."

Alonso's late effort on ultrasoft tyres benefited from better track conditions than when the rest of the field set their qualifying simulation times earlier in FP2, and he said his position was probably not representative of where McLaren stands in the pecking order this weekend.

"We know our position is a little further down, probably 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th," he added.

"Sometimes we manage to put in some good laps like we did in Barcelona for P7 [in qualifying] and today P7.

"The most important thing is to be in the top 10 for points on Sunday. There are no points on Saturday, but a good qualifying shows the race performance.

"With the problems we had in FP1 and missing most of FP2 the car is not perfectly tuned, and even with that handicap we were in the top 10 so I'm definitely happy for that."