Alonso brands Canadian GP ‘a fantastic race’ for Aston Martin after double points haul

Fernando Alonso praised the performance of his Aston Martin team after returning to the top-10 in the Canadian Grand Prix, with the Spaniard and team mate Lance Stroll scoring a double points finish off the back of a difficult weekend last time out in Monaco.

After consistently collecting points in the opening events of the season, Alonso’s run came to an end with a disappointing P19 result during a challenging visit to Imola. This was followed by another trying outing in Monte Carlo, where the two-time world champion exited qualifying in Q1 before ending the race in P11.

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His luck improved in Montreal, as he crossed the line in his starting position of sixth amid changing weather conditions and two Safety Car phases. Asked how good it felt to be fighting for solid points again, Alonso explained after the Grand Prix: “Yeah, fantastic race for the team.

“Obviously scoring with both cars is always the target, and sixth and seventh is a good number of points. Extremely difficult race with the conditions, [for the] majority of the race the track was just two metres wide.

“You cannot put a tyre outside of that dry line, so that is very, very stressful. Congratulations to everybody, because it was I think a difficult race in the cockpit.”

Aston Martin look to have fallen away from the top four of Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes during the season, but Alonso is hopeful that their promising form in Canada is a sign of progress.

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On whether the upturn in performance at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve did indeed reflect an increased understanding of the car, or if it was more track-specific, the 42-year-old said: “I think a combination of the two.

“We are happier with the car now, we understood a few things and I think we are more competitive. But, at the same time, we had in the calendar Montreal as one of the best tracks for us, for our package.

“[There is a] question mark [over] what is going to happen in Barcelona, but I know the team is working flat-out to bring new parts to the next race, and hopefully we keep this level of competitiveness.”

Alonso’s team mate Stroll was also left feeling “really happy” with his seventh place, marking his best result to date at his home event. The Canadian echoed Alonso’s view that the squad benefitted from the AMR24 suiting the venue and praised the fact that they optimised this.

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“I think the track really suited us,” Stroll commented. “We knew that coming into the weekend that this would be a good track for us, but it’s good that we capitalised on it.

“Sixth and seventh [is] a lot of points for the team. We have to take advantage when we’re in a points-scoring position and the car’s competitive, and today we did that.”