“Another very good sign,” Fernando Alonso is filled with optimism over Aston Martin’s upgrade plan to catch up with Red Bull

Aston Martin's upgrade plan has Fernando Alonso filled with optimism.

“Another very good sign,” Fernando Alonso is filled with optimism over Aston Martin’s upgrade plan to catch up with Red Bull

Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen

Fernando Alonso has been having a stellar season so far in 2023. After being in the pinnacle of motorsport for more than two decades, the Spaniard hasn’t lost any bit of talent. The Aston Martin driver still aims to perform at the highest level possible. The results that he has gotten so far are a clear example of the man’s calibre. While many in the paddock doubted this man, they were immediately proven wrong.

Coming into the Canadian GP race weekend, Fernando Alonso seemed confident when it came to the car’s performance. With FP1 cancelled abruptly due to an issue with the CCTV, the Spaniard was a bit concerned. Lance Stroll on the other hand has his home race this weekend so the pressure is on for him. However, Alonso had not been out qualified by a teammate in Montreal so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MfvEe0VFrM&pp=ygUeZmVybmFuZG8gYWxvbnNvIG1heCB2ZXJzdGFwcGVu

With rainstorms blowing throughout the weekend in Montreal, the wet sessions don’t give a proper indication of how the cars are performing. They say rain is the great equaliser in Formula 1 and Max Verstappen still went on to take pole by 1.5 seconds. However, Alonso is right there on the front row with Max to challenge him. Alonso was P2 in Canada last year too when he was racing with Alpine.

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Fernando Alonso is hopeful that Aston Martin’s upgrades will help to bridge the gap to Red Bull

F1 Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso
Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso

In an interview, here is what he said. “I think on the new parts, it’s early days, they’re still under evaluation,” Alonso said. “And I think we still need to optimize the setup of the car a little bit now with the new package, which is what we found yesterday. So I think in Austria or Silverstone, we will extract the maximum of it. Yesterday was too short an FP2,” he stated.

“But happy; the new parts were good and delivering what we were expecting, so that’s another very good sign. And let’s see tomorrow in a dry race if we can challenge Max a little bit. I don’t think that we are at that level, that’s for sure, but in a state of being 20s behind or 30s behind, hopefully we are a little bit closer,” the Aston Martim driver concluded.

While Lance Stroll was not able to live up to the expectations in qualifying, Fernando Alonso came like a knight in shining armour to save the day. With Nico Hulkenberg’s penalty, Alonso will start today’s race in P2 alongside Max Verstappen. With such a dramatic qualifying session, the hopes of the fans and the people in the paddock have risen. It will be interesting to see who will take the checkered flag first in Montreal.

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