Zak Brown could not believe another Alonso stoppage

It sure appears like Honda wants Alonso to quit the team

McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown says he was "in a state of disbelief" when Fernando Alonso's MCL32 came to a halt after just two corners during practice in Spain.

Alonso, on his out lap on Friday morning, was sent into a terminal half-spin between Turns 2 and 3 when an oil leak struck his car.

McLaren has suffered a dismal campaign so far, plagued by a lack of reliability and performance, with Alonso edging closer to taking an engine-related grid penalty.

"Sadness… disappointment… just kind of a state of disbelief," Brown commented on Alonso's early exit from FP1.

"But you then can't cry over spilt milk, so we it [was best to] quickly getting to turning your attention to Stoffel [Vandoorne's] car and seeing what we learn there.

"He's gone alright today all things considered, he's done an exceptional job, then you hope to learn by whatever caused the failure."

Alonso was pictured playing tennis in the wake of his early exit from practice and Brown moved to defend the Spaniard's off-track activities.

"I think anything Fernando can do to exercise his frustration is a good thing," Brown said.

"If you go sit in a room you just don't exercise; you get built up energy, you expect to go out and do an hour and a half and end up doing something substantially less than that.

"I think going and doing other activities to get your mind off it is healthy."