Renault's Fernando Alonso is hoping to recover from an ear infection in time for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix after the Spaniard was forced to cut down his first practice sessions.

The double world champion could only manage a total of 32 laps over today's two sessions because of the complaint, finishing 16th on the timesheets in the morning and one place higher in the afternoon.

"We tried not to do too many laps today as I wasn't feeling 100 percent," Alonso told reporters.

"It's a very demanding weekend in terms of the heat because we sweat so much but it was important we still got enough information."

Alonso, who won in Sepang to help pave the way for the first of his two titles in 2005, expects his ear problem to improve for tomorrow's qualifying session.

"I hope what we have learnt today will be useful for tomorrow and allow us to work on improving the set-up," said the 27-year-old.

"Hopefully I will recover more this evening and feel better tomorrow so I can give my maximum for qualifying which I think will be one of the most important parts of the weekend. We need to be ready for that."

Alonso finished fifth in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix last weekend.

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