Fernando Alonso did not get past the 23rd lap during the Canadian GP. When it became clear that there would be no neutralizations due to rain or safety cars, he pulled his Aston Martin off the track himself; his inadequate seat was causing him too much pain. In terms of pace, he noticed that the team had made a small step forward again, but for a real catch-up, the Spaniard still needs some patience. The second half of the season is Alonso’s point on the horizon.
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Despite the limited comfort, Alonso did experience a brief revival in the opening phase of the race, where he benefited from an early strategic gamble on soft tires and even briefly ran in the top ten. “It was luck with the soft tires,” Alonso downplayed, emphasizing that he had also been lucky. After that, he quickly fell back, something he said is characteristic of Aston Martin’s season. “It’s always the same story,” he sighed. “We make good starts and then slowly fall back, losing a position every lap. That way you end up right at the back again. That is the reality and it will probably stay that way until summer. We accept it and stay cool about it.”
Looking towards summer
Despite the disappointment, the Spanish veteran did see small technical progress within the team, especially around the powertrain and gearbox. “There is always progress,” he emphasized. “Every time we go out on track, there are new things on the car, on the engine, on the setups, on the gearbox. How that translates into lap times is hard to quantify, but we were definitely faster here than in Miami, simply because we have dotted the i’s.”
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Nevertheless, Alonso again emphasized that Aston Martin can only really make a catch-up in the second half of the season. “I expect that between here and Monaco there will be many small improvements, and hopefully we will take another step forward. But the fundamental problems can only be addressed in the second half of the year. The engine power and the aerodynamic package simply have to give us three more seconds of gain.”
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