Alpine is happy with the car’s speed on the track in Montreal – Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon showed top ten times in the second practice of the Canadian Grand Prix. The team has gone through the entire planned program and is now preparing for the rain qualifying.
Fernando Alonso (5th): “I think we had another good Friday. Apparently the car is fast enough on this difficult track in Montreal. We haven’t played in Canada for a few years, so it feels a little different now than in previous seasons. Driving over curbs feels very different in ground effect cars.
Friday we had a good experience. According to the forecast, changeable weather is expected on Saturday, so during practice we tried to gather as much information as possible in preparation for the race.
Esteban Ocon (10th): “It’s nice to be back in Montreal – in my case after a four-year absence. On Friday, the task was limited to understanding the characteristics of the track and finding grip. On such circuits it is important to optimize the settings – I think we did well in both sessions.
I had some bad luck at the start of the first practice when a plastic bag got stuck in the brake channel – I lost time because of this, but at least the day turned out to be productive.
It started to rain a few minutes after the end of the second session, but apparently we are waiting for precipitation on Saturday, which could affect the balance of power – it should be interesting. We have a competitive car, so I hope we take every opportunity.”
Pat Fry, Technical Director: “The team had a productive Friday. As expected the grip on the track was low, but once the road surface was covered with a layer of used rubber, the speeds increased significantly and we were able to make progress.
Unfortunately, debris got into Esteban’s car in the first practice, causing the front right brakes to overheat. We cleaned up everything and brought Esteban back to the track, continuing to work with the settings.
Fernando’s training went without problems – in general he is more satisfied with the basic settings, which is reflected in the results of the session. Despite the problems in the first session, Esteban was also able to add.
Our long series times look encouraging – at the end of the second session both riders were on hard tires. We will continue to monitor the weather closely as the forecast for rain is over the race weekend – rain qualifying is likely.”
Source: F1 News
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