After the first triple-header in Europe, F1 and the Paddock headed back to North America, but this time to the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. Set on a man-made island in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, the semi-permanent track is known for its high-speed straights and heavy braking zones. The cars are on full throttle for approximately 76% of the lap, just slightly less than Monza and as Aston Martin use the same Mercedes engine as Championship leaders McLaren and, of course, Mercedes would there be any reason why they couldn’t do as well here as the other two? The Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team applied only minor setup changes to their cars while keeping a close eye on improving tyre management and straight-line performance. With Fernando Alonso returning to the site of his maiden victory in 2013 and Lance Stroll, declared fit to compete after his hand injury in Spain and eager to impress at his home Grand Prix, the weekend promised expectation and potential.
When Friday’s FP1 started it was evident that the track was very ‘green’ – this being due to the fact that this Grand Prix is the only motor sport event that takes place on this track all year. Both AMR25s rolled out promptly for their installation laps. Stroll, racing in front of his home crowd, quickly got down to work but was seen dealing with understeer through some of the tight corners. Alonso’s early runs on the medium compound tyres suggested a cautious approach, focusing on setup refinement more than headline lap times. As if to prove the point about the track Leclerc smashed into a wall after 15 minutes and out came the red flags to halt proceedings. All the cars rolled back into their garages (except Leclerc) while the clock continued to count down. 12 minutes later, the session got back underway and at the halfway point of the session, Alonso was P6, having covered 12 laps and Stroll was P15 with 11 laps under his belt. The AM drivers hovered in the midfield for the rest of the session and it ended up with Alonso 12th and Stroll 15th. No sooner had FP2 got underway and Stroll was involved in a crash in the same area where Leclerc had his crash in FP1, also bringing out red flags. Stroll says he experienced "a bit of understeer and touched the wall” but somehow that 'touch' broke his left front steering arm and he had to sit out the rest of the session. He had encountered the situation earlier in the lap but it was exacerbated in the incident by 'dirty air' from the traffic ahead. It only took a couple of minutes to clear the debris from the track and the session was soon back underway and after 15 minutes Alonso placed his AMR25 in P5. He stayed 5th fastest for the rest of the session, whereas Stroll stayed back in the garage & was officially classified 19th. The following day, none of the drivers were in a hurry to get on track to start FP3 – part of the reason being that they wanted to save their preferred tyre, the medium compound, for Qualifying, later in the afternoon. Stroll did venture out first, probably for a parade lap to wave to his fellow countrymen, and he came straight back into his garage. After 15 minutes, both drivers went out on track and Alonso immediately placed his AMR25 in P1, followed by Stroll in P2. 10 minutes later and this session was red flagged when Piastri hit the infamous ‘wall of champions’ and the debris needed to be cleared up. When the session got back underway, just after the halfway point, Alonso was in P3 and Stroll in P7. As the track evolved and other teams experimented with different tyres and fuel loads, the Aston Martins fell down the order, so that with 15 minutes left to go, Alonso was P10 and Stroll P17. However, on their final runs, both cars improved, with Alonso finishing in P6 and Stroll in P14. On a positive note, Alonso was providing feedback that the car still wasn't set up right and that he could get more out of it – we would see.
By the time Qualifying was due to get underway, the weather was reaching the hottest part of the day and all the drivers wanted to get out as soon as possible to take advantage of the favourable conditions. Impressively for Aston Martin, after their first runs, Stroll was P2 and Alonso P3. Then, when they went for their second runs, Alonso put himself P1, just before the red flags were unveiled, due to the engine cover on Albon’s Williams flying off, leaving debris on the track. At that point, Alonso was still P1, Stroll P7. With just over 5 minutes remaining the track was clear and the session resumed, but Stroll was just not able to get his medium tyres into the optimal operating window and he was eliminated – finishing only 18th. Alonso on the other hand was already comfortably in P6, when he started his final fast lap and put in the fastest first sector but when he realised he was well through he just cruised back to the pits, looking promising. Although there was a 12 place difference in placings between the two drivers, the difference in time was only 0.32 of a second. In Q2, Alonso took 6th place on his initial run and he seemed to secure that place for himself for the remainder of the session, as that is where he ended up on his final run and the position in which he finished Q2. In Q3, after his first run, Alonso was 7th but he improved on his final attempt and placed his AMR25 6th, which is where he would start the race, ahead of Norris and Leclerc. Russell took pole position, edging out Verstappen and Piastri, in an exciting finish to qualifying.
Both Aston Martins got away cleanly from their starting positions of the 70-lap race, Alonso, starting on the medium compound tyres, maintained 6th place and Stroll, on the hard tyres, 17th, but during the first lap Tsunoda had passed Stroll and pushed him down to 18th. Amongst the leaders, Russell and Verstappen kept their positions, but young rookie Antonelli passed Piastri in the first few corners. Alonso was managing to keep within a second of Hamilton ahead and had the benefit of DRS, but was already noticing graining on his rear tyres. Alonso also had Norris, in the faster McLaren, keeping right up with him and by lap 11 Norris cruised past Alonso. Shortly after, Verstappen dived into the pits for an early tyre change, so that promoted Alonso up to 6th - Stroll still 18th. Then it was Russell’s turn to come into the pits, but as Leclerc had just overtaken Alonso, he maintained 6th place. It was the same on the next lap, 15, when Antonelli came into the pits, momentarily putting Alonso up to 5th but he soon got passed by Russell, who was on his fresh tyres. With the graining on his tyres becoming more evident, Alonso came into the pits for fresh hard tyres, at the same time as Hamilton. However, Alonso had a comparatively slow pit stop as when they both emerged back on track, Alonso was back in 18th whereas Hamilton had come out 10th. Stroll was 15th at this point. This was clearly not where Alonso wanted to be and he set about moving himself up the order so that by lap 20 he was up to 15th, with Stroll 13th. On lap 21 Alonso passed Lawson, then he passed Stroll. On lap 23, first it was the turn of Albon to get passed and on the following lap Bortoleto was passed by Alonso. Stroll had also managed to pass Albon. The Aston Martins were now Alonso 11th and Stroll 13th. On lap 25 it was Stroll’s turn to come into the pits for fresh tyres and he came out 19th. Alonso meanwhile had caught up with and passed Tsunoda and was back in a points position and still he was making progress – on lap 34 Alonso passed his fellow Spaniard, Sainz, so that at the halfway stage, Alonso was 9th and Stroll was 19th. A couple of laps later Alonso caught and passed Ocon, the last of the cars he was certainly capable of beating and was up to 8th, but the gap to Hamilton, in 7th, was a cavernous 20 seconds. At the back, Stroll was finally able to move up a place, to 18th, when Lawson pitted and seemingly passed Gasly a couple of laps later, but the Stewards looked into the fact that Stroll didn't leave Gasly enough room when he was attempting to repass and Stroll was given a 10 second penalty. Counting down the laps to the finish and with 20 to go, Leclerc was the race leader, Alonso was 8th and Stroll was 16th, with the penalty yet to be served. Having pitted quite early in the race it was time for Alonso to come in again for fresh tyres, on lap 51, and he came out 12th this time. Stroll then followed him into pits to serve his penalty and get new tyres and he came out last. As previously, Alonso set about the cars ahead of him, passing Tsunoda on lap 54 again for 11th spot. Stroll, also with the benefit of fresh tyres, passed Lawson on lap 56. Two laps later Alonso was within a second of Sainz again, but he and Ocon, ahead of both of them, came into the pits clearing the way for Alonso to move up to 9th, with Hulkenberg less than a second ahead. Finally on lap 63 Alonso managed to pass Hulkenberg to secure 8th spot. At the front and with 5 laps to go, the two McLarens were battling it out and clashed! On the start finish straight Norris tried to pass Piastri but came too close due to the better momentum he got coming out of the last corner and his front wing hit Piastris rear tyres, made contact and off came his front nose, forcing him out of the race. With debris and a stranded car on track, the Safety Car was deployed. The cars then followed the Safety Car round to the final lap, Alonso gaining a place & finishing 7th – his best points finish of the season and much more where we are used to seeing Alonso. Stroll finished last -17th. Russell won the race, with Verstappen a close second and rookie Antonelli third. It was the first time this season that we didn’t see a McLaren driver on the podium.
After the race, a very pleased Alonso said “It was a good race for us today. I felt happy with the car and as expected managing the tyres was difficult. We went into the race and knew eighth position would be more our realistic pace and I couldn't keep the faster cars behind. It seems our race pace is not as competitive as Qualifying and it's something which we need to look into going forward." Stroll was not so pleased, "It's been a long rough day and I'm not so pleased with this weekend overall. It was always going to be difficult starting the race from P17, but I also didn't feel like the car had the pace today to make up any positions.”
Next race is in Austria in 2 weeks’ time.