Fernando Alonso he has once again stayed at the gates of pole. After Max Verstappen took first place on the grid from him in Monaco for just 84 thousandthsthe Asturian has once again put the current world champion against the ropes in the Montreal rain.
On his first try he stayed two tenths off the Red Bull driver’s time. On the second lap, Verstappen managed to drop his best time by more than a second.
Alonso had been replicating Max’s recordbut Oscar Piastri crashed against protections, causing a red flag that prevented Alonso from completing the lappreventing him from surpassing not only the world champion, but a Nico Hulkenberg who achieved a heroic second position with his Haas.
However, the man from Oviedo is optimistic about the race. “I think tomorrow we will have a chance to press. I think they’ve had very easy victories so far, and I hope tomorrow they have a little more pressureAlonso said at the FIA press conference.
The race pace shown by Aston Martin on Friday allows one to dream with victory. In the long run simulation that all the teams completed in the second free practice session, Alonso was the fastestwith an average pace of 1:17:5, one tenth faster than Verstappen.
Besides, Fernando Alonso was the most consistent on the gridso if he manages to overtake Hulkenberg in the early stages of the race, could stand up to Max Verstappen to achieve the long-awaited victory number 33.
