Alonso has high hopes for Montreal race
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| Fernando Alonso |
Fernando, the team has spoken of a missed opportunity in Monaco. What are your thoughts on the race?
We were not able to achieve what could have been possible in normal conditions, and so it was disappointing. As we are not fighting for the championship, we tried to take our chances and that meant we took some risks, although they did not pay us back. But now I am looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend to see what we can achieve in Montreal, which is a very different circuit.
Canada is generally a popular venue for the teams. Is it a circuit that you like?
Yes, there is always a good atmosphere in Montreal. The whole city gets involved in the Grand Prix and it's clear that Canadians like motor sport and particularly F1, which makes it a very enjoyable race. I won the Grand Prix in 2006, so I have some happy memories, and I'm sure that this year we will have another interesting race.
The circuit in Montreal is demanding on the brakes. Is that an area you will concentrate on when you start working on the set-up of the car?
Absolutely. We must pay special attention to brake cooling and managing them in the race will be very important. But it's not something I'm worried about, and we will work on this in free practice on Friday. Overall I think that the R28 should work well.
A low downforce set-up is essential in Canada. Do you think that the car will handle well in this configuration?
There is no reason why it shouldn't as the team has been preparing for this race for several weeks, including a test session in Paul Ricard. We have made some progress recently and we are trying to continue moving forward as much as possible. Since the Spanish Grand Prix we seem to have been on the pace, and so should be in Canada as well, and we will do everything to try and make sure that we are.