Fernando Alonso made the most of the third day of practice despite the high winds, to complete the fifth highest number of laps of any driver and to finish fourth fastest with an average speed of 219.533mph.
Whilst a number of drivers didn't even both venturing out in the conditions, the two-time Formula 1 champion completed 39 laps and says although it was "tricky" out there, it provided a "good lesson" and gave the team useful data.
"It was tricky [so] very little running for the big guys," said Alonso. "But for me any condition is a good lesson. Today was about that, a lesson about how to drive with strong winds and how to set up the car corner to corner.
"Everything was according to plan. The team, I think, used those runs also to test something on the back[-end], the engine, for tuning, and something like that, so I think it was a productive day as well.
“We used the middle of the day to do some pitstop practice, not only for me but for the guys as well.
“We learned a couple of things on their side and also on my side, how to approach the fast lane, the slow lane, because obviously in practice it’s OK but on race day when 33 cars will pit, there will be a lot of traffic here."