"Shy" Alonso "embarrassed" by F1 farewell tributes

The two-time world champion is racing in F1 for the last time this weekend - for the time being at least - after having announced his decision to leave the sport earlier this year.

Plans to pay tribute to the Spaniard have included a special car livery, overalls and a new helmet design.

A farewell photo with all McLaren team members wearing commemorative T-shirts is scheduled for Sunday before the race and the team will also form a guard of honour for when Alonso goes into the garage for the race.

Formula 1 has arranged a farewell party in the Abu Dhabi paddock on Saturday evening and Alonso admitted he wants it all to end quickly.

"All these tributes are a bit embarrassing for me. I'm shier than people think and I want it go by quickly," said Alonso.

"I would like to be invisible until Monday, but I'll have to be here and talk a bit."

Alonso qualified in 15th position for his final Formula 1 grand prix, later admitting that he did not expect to be able to make it to Q2.

The result meant the Spaniard has outqualified teammate Stoffel Vandoorne in all 21 qualifying sessions this season.

"We knew that Q1 would be difficult so we decided to use three sets of tyres to try and it worked out," Alonso said. "We made it out of Q1, which was a surprise and not in our plans.

"The lap was good and I'm happy to have driven on the limit again to round out a perfect year in terms of qualifying: 21-0 with the same car, I think no one else did that and I'm happy to have that at least."

The McLaren driver admitted he will need the cars in front of him to hit trouble in order to score points in his farewell race given the pace of his car.

"I think that in order to be in the points we'll need help from the people in front of us," he added.

"In terms of performance we are not fast enough but things can always happen here so we'll try to stay away from the incidents and take advantage of it."