The best lap times from Formula 1 on Friday alone give Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin a huge lead. With a time of 1:15.810, Alonso achieved a clear best time of the day in the second practice session for the Canadian GP, 0.463 seconds ahead of George Russell. Lance Stroll rounded off the strong Aston picture in third place. It’s not quite the reality, but it’s not completely worthless either.
Fernando Alonso himself is openly prepared to file the result away as a pattern of no value: “No real laps in the dry or in the wet, we were in the middle of nowhere.” Unsettled weather dominated the picture in Montreal all day. Alonso went out early in FP2 when the track allowed good laps on slicks and used that to his advantage.
He got into the rhythm well, noticed the whole track development, got the tires in the window well, and above all he was out there when the track was at its best. Of course he was the fastest then. Because everyone else drove at different times and the rain returned halfway through the training, the competition was no longer able to achieve comparable lap times.
Mixed weather in Canada the great Alonso hope
On the other hand, it must be noted that the track did allow for acceptable lap times on slicks for a not insignificant period of a good quarter of an hour before the rain came again. “It could be like that tomorrow,” says Alonso. “In qualifying and in the race. It is still very useful information. We have to analyse it.”
They would therefore undoubtedly welcome more rain in Canada. “We have to be wide awake tomorrow and the day after,” says Alonso. “The right decision can get you five seconds. The wrong one will get you out.” A completely wet race would be particularly beneficial for Aston Martin, whose tires are still questionable even after the latest updates.
In the last two Canadian qualifying sessions, Alonso made the right decisions twice in the rain. In 2022 he finished second and in 2023 third. Last year he also turned that into a podium. Such a result would be a much-needed success in 2024. For three races, neither driver has managed to get beyond ninth place. Rainy relief could really come in Canada. But the weather forecast remains uncertain.