“Hopefully we can get two cars on the podium,” said Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll before the Formula 1 race in Canada. He dreams of his son Lance making it to the podium at the home game in Montreal and says he is “extremely confident”. Because: “The car will be very strong on the track in Montreal.”
Fernando Alonso considers this an “aggressive target”, as he says. “But we know Lawrence. His ambitions are always extremely high and we will try to make him happy and proud at the home race.”
It remains to be seen whether the Aston Martin will really be that strong in Canada. The Spaniard is a little more reserved after the disappointing home game in Barcelona: “It should be a good weekend, but you never know until you go out on track,” he says. “We also had high expectations in Barcelona, but we didn’t perform there.”
However, he hopes his team will be more competitive in Montreal than in Spain, where he had his worst result of the season in seventh place and was not on the podium for the second time of the season.
At least Aston Martin has a few new parts in store for the AMR23, which Alonso expects will improve the car a bit – as it has done so often this season. “We discovered things at every race. We’re trying to optimize the package,” he says.
“We’re constantly bringing new parts to the races, and that’s another step. And there’s more to come.”
Canada not the best chance to beat Red Bull
Canada is considered a good place for Alonso. He’s already won here with Renault, and last year he was surprisingly on the front row with Alpine. As such, he is once again asked if Montreal now is the best chance to beat Red Bull. But he dismisses it: “I don’t think so.”
Rather, he hopes that Barcelona was just a blip and that they can get back to their old pace in Canada. And: Alonso also hopes that Aston Martin can be in a competitive position all year round.
“But I don’t think we can point to a particular weekend as the biggest opportunity,” he says. “Maybe Monaco was the best chance. But let’s see when we get another chance.”
Alonso: Stroll breakthrough matter of time
Meanwhile, his first podium of the season is being pursued by team-mate Lance Stroll, who his father believes is best to break the ban at home this weekend. The Canadian has been clearly overshadowed by Alonso so far this season and has beaten the two-time world champion in Barcelona for the first time this season.
According to Alonso, however, it is only a matter of time before Stroll makes the final breakthrough. He praises: “Lance shows the speed and determination in the car. He drove with a broken hand at the beginning of the season and did things that you only see when you really have the passion for what you do.”
Alonso says that the most important thing for Stroll is to get the necessary consistency and get the maximum weekend after weekend.
“We’ve seen Lance shine on a number of occasions in the past, for example in wet qualifying or in the race, at starts, on first laps – all things that are outstanding,” he says. On other weekends, however, the Canadian gets caught in a negative spiral when things don’t go well.
“Consistency is the next step in his career so that he can constantly fight for the top 5 and at the end of the year you see the result in the table if you get all the weekends together,” says Alonso.
“But with the drive and the determination and the team that Aston Martin is building, it’s only a matter of time before that happens.”