Fernando Alonso faces this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in a race that could raise Aston Martin’s aspirations. In the last Grand Prix, Alonso became the local hero where, for one reason or another, usually due to the performance of his car, the Asturian took eight races to score his first points of the year.
Canada is expected to be one of those “friendly races” for Alonso and Aston Martin.
For many, it may seem like little, but in reality, it is very important for a team in need like Aston. He did it with a good race, full of maneuvers, and with a crazy finish that opened up the opportunity for him.
Now, the Spaniard arrives at one of his favorite events on the calendar, a race that, although Imola, Monaco, and Barcelona confirmed that the AMR25 has taken a considerable step forward in terms of performance and reliability, Canada could be another one, especially knowing that it is a circuit that could suit them even better than what we saw at Montmeló during the last Spanish Grand Prix.
So much so that the driver has predicted that this tenth race, now entering the second third of the season, could be a “pleasant” weekend and that Montreal, due to its lighter layout, could be one of those “friendly races,” as he has called them. He has made it clear that, although the car has improved a lot since the first races of the year, it is now time to look ahead and consider the right steps to take in view of the current situation. The car is better, yes, but it is important to know how far it can go without interfering with the plans for 2026.
Montreal is one of Alonso’s favorite tracks
“I feel competitive on Saturday, and in the race, I see that we still have a lot to improve, so we have to work on that,” he said as he left the circuit, eagerly awaiting one of his favorite tracks.
The truth is that Canada is one of the tracks he likes best and suits him best. He won there in 2006 and finished on the podium in 2010, 2013, and 2023. He started on the front row with Alpine and finished on the podium two seasons ago with Aston Martin, the day he easily beat Hamilton in his Mercedes on the back straight.
On that day two years ago, the green car had come within moments of victory in Monte Carlo due to the ‘intermediate’ tires. In Canada, victory was perhaps only thwarted by a problem with the engine’s power delivery, which left him a few seconds short of his coveted 33rd win.
This weekend, they probably won’t be in that fight, but they will be on the way to getting as close as possible to the leaders. Leaders like McLaren, who, just two years ago, were in the same position as Alonso’s team is today. That’s why it’s so important not only to make this car better, but also to correct the mistakes that made it weak.
“We have improved some weak points on this car.”
“We’ve done the best job we could to date, but we don’t really know what our rivals have been working on or what direction they’ve taken. We’ve improved some of the weak points that the car seemed to have when we first designed it.”
And Canada could be the right place for that. “It’s a circuit where we’ve always done very well, so I’m optimistic about the next race,” said Fernando, hoping for a change of scenery from Imola and Barcelona, where he didn’t get the reward he was hoping for.
Alonso also wanted to emphasize that there is no room for error in today’s Formula 1. Although failure is always a very good way to learn, mistakes are very costly in such a tight and competitive grid as the current one, and therefore, he insists that it is vital to be alert and anticipate any setbacks in order to reach the top.
That’s where he revealed that, although everything the AMR25 has is still insufficient for everything they want to achieve, the plan is simply to score points in Canada. It’s a different track to Monaco and Barcelona, but one that could provide some certainty after what we saw in Imola, so their aspirations will remain the same.
They have gone from being ninth or tenth car to sixth. The definitive leap, fighting for fifth place with Williams
As the Asturian emphasizes, it will be a weekend of maximizing what we have, finding a good setup, and finishing in the points again. “And then, starting in Canada, hopefully some new parts will arrive that will give us another little boost,” he said about Austria or Silverstone, the team’s home race, where other improvements are expected to arrive to make the second leap of the year.
After Miami, Aston Martin was the last car on the grid, with Sauber even ahead of them. Now, they have left the red light behind and have gone from tenth to seventh and sixth depending on the circuit. The premise is to make the definitive leap to take the fifth place that currently belongs to Carlos Sainz’s Williams. This is a key moment to clear the way for the team for the rest of the year. The impressions, now yes, could give rise to good news in the second half of the season.