Fernando Alonso now has a car that allows him to mix it with the frontrunning F1 teams again. Aston Martin’s recent upgrade has delivered a major boost to a beleaguered team.
The Silverstone outfit are still eighth in the constructors’ championship with only 22 points from 10 events. But Alonso scored his first points of the season in Spain and notched again at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Alonso impressively qualified inside the top six for the third time in the last four races. He fell behind qualifying strugglers Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, but the latter’s late crash promoted him back to P7.
Alonso shared the third row with his old rival Lewis Hamilton and remained a spot behind at the chequered flag. The Spaniard had defended his old McLaren teammate before the race, suggesting that this year’s Ferrari is ‘difficult to drive’ just like the 2024 Mercedes (via Motorsport).
Fernando Alonso criticised Lewis Hamilton’s driving at the Canadian Grand Prix
When Norris hit the wall trying to overtake Oscar Piastri, it triggered a late safety car. This effectively sealed the race result, with insufficient time to get the race back underway.
But it did generate some controversy, with Red Bull angered by how George Russell was driving at the front. They unsuccessfully protested the result of the race, alleging that Russell had deliberately tried to get Max Verstappen penalised.
The Bulls also complained that the Mercedes driver had fallen too far back behind the safety car. And in an unbroadcast radio message, Alonso alleged that Hamilton was doing the same.
| RANK | DRIVER | TEAM | POINTS |
| 1 | George Russell | Mercedes | 25 |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 18 |
| 3 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | 15 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 12 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 10 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | 8 |
| 7 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 6 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | 4 |
| 9 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | 2 |
| 10 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | 1 |
“Hamilton missed the lesson of being close to the cars in front of him,” Alonso reported to race engineer Andrew Vizard, as noted by DAZN.
“Yeah, it was annoying, wasn’t it?” Vizard replied. “We checked it out.”
Clearly, Aston found no grounds to contact the FIA about Hamilton. But Alonso, the most experienced driver on the grid, was exploring every avenue to improve his result.
Lewis Hamilton is pinning all his hopes on one thing he’s heard from Ferrari
Hamilton arguably did well to salvage P6 in Montreal, even if he benefited from Norris’ late retirement. He grappled with a variety of issues during the race.
Most notably, he lost around 20 points of downforce after hitting a groundhog. The resulting floor damage may have contributed to the rear instability he reported.
But Hamilton also reported brake problems, a recurring trend this season. Here, the pedal was apparently going long.
It’s believed that Hamilton is biding his time ahead of Ferrari’s rear suspension change at the British GP. It’s his last hope of salvaging some positivity from a desperately disappointing debut season.
