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Fernando Alonso lands Ferrari ‘World Championship’ dig ahead of Canadian GP

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5 months ago

June 9, 2024

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Fernando Alonso lands Ferrari ‘World Championship’ dig ahead of Canadian GP

Making his way into Q3 in Montreal, Fernando Alonso landed a dig at his former F1 team Ferrari who couldn’t make it out of Q2 despite coming to “win the World Championship” after Monaco.

Last time out at the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, Alonso failed to score a single point in a processional race that was won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Fernando Alonso: We are in front of good people…

Closing the gap to Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the standings, pundits and fans alike dreamed of a title fight.

But while Leclerc downplayed the prospect, adamant he was “not thinking about the championship”, he told the media on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix that the target was to be “able to win races every weekend.”

He added: “We are, I think, improving more than anybody else in the last seven, eight months, and we need to keep focusing on the process more than on the outcome. The good outcome will only be the result of hard work and work well done.”

Alas, Ferrari look to have fallen short of that target in Montreal where neither Leclerc nor Carlos Sainz made it out of Q2 in Saturday’s qualiyfing.

Knocked out of qualifying by Lance Stroll who was 0.032s faster in Q2, Leclerc will line up 11th on the grid with Sainz P12.

In contrast, Aston Martin got both cars into the top ten where Alonso is sixth and Stroll P9.

The Spaniard couldn’t resist a dig, including Sergio Perez who didn’t even make it out of Q1.

“We are in front of good people: Perez, the two Ferraris that suddenly came to win the World Championship after Monaco,” he told DAZN.

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‘Luck will be needed’ predicts Fernando Alonso

Chasing his first points since the Miami Grand Prix, the double World Champion admits “luck” will play its part in Sunday’s 70-lap Canadian Grand Prix as rain is forecast to fall throughout the race.

“Definitely a good position to start after the last two events when we were out in Q1 so that was race over basically. But now obviously starting P6 and P9 we have a chance to score points,” he told the media.

“The car felt better this weekend, we felt a little bit more confident with the car.

“Tomorrow is going to be all tyre management, without the P2 long runs we go into the unknown a little bit in the race.

“And it does rain it’s one of those races that if you stop for for the intermediate tyres one lap too late or one lap too soon your race is over so you have to time it perfectly.

“A little bit of luck will be needed for everyone.”