Alonso Clocks Fastest Lap Time in Canadian Grand Prix Tests

Topics:  Fernando Alonso, , Canadian Grand Prix

Anthony Fontanelle
June 11, 2007

Two time defending champion and last year’s winner of the Canadian Grand Prix Fernando Alonso sent a clear message to his competition when he set the fastest lap time at both practice sessions for the Canadian Grand Prix. The sixth race of the 2007 Formula One season, it will be held at the Circuit Gilles Villneuve in Montreal, Canada.

During the first session, Alonso took the fastest lap over his teammate Lewis Hamilton. After the two McLaren drivers, the two Ferrari drivers recorded the third and fourth fastest laps in the morning practice session. During the afternoon session though, it looks as if the two McLaren drivers will record the two fastest lap times but Felipe Massa spoiled the party for them.

Late in the afternoon session, Massa recorded a lap time of 1:17.090 besting Hamilton’s lap time. This pushed the young British driver to the third place while Massa’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen was pushed back to fourth. BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld in his F1.07 with BMW performance chips recorded the fifth fastest lap time during the afternoon session.

While Alonso may have recorded the fastest lap times on both practice session, he does not think that they can dominate the next race as well as they did at the Monaco Grand Prix. At the said race, Alonso took the win while Hamilton finished second. “A good start to our weekend at a challenging circuit,” says the Spanish driver. “In the first session we limited our running slightly as the track was very dirty and only used one set of tires, but still emerged fastest. The second session was spent on tire evaluation and also looking at the brakes and we have made some good progress.”

“I don't think we will dominate like we did at the last race in Monaco and the track conditions here means that it's very hard to estimate where our competition is, but so far so good,” added the defending champion.

Meanwhile, Hamilton, the youngest Formula One driver to lead the driver’s championship, is currently tied with Alonso in the standings. He is apparently pleased with how he performed at the circuit. “Today was the first time I had the opportunity to drive at the Montreal circuit and I really enjoyed myself,” says Hamilton. “We had done a lot of work back in the UK with our simulation program and also I have watched a few of the past races here but you can't beat the real thing,” he added further.

“We worked on set-up, tire evaluation and also looking at the brakes as this circuit is notoriously hard on the brakes. There were no problems and it looks like we are in good shape,” says the young Formula One driver.

McLaren currently leads other teams in the constructor’s championship with 76 points to their credit. The second team on the standing is Ferrari with 56 points. Number three on the standing is BMW Sauber with 30 points. History is on Ferrari’s side as the team has won 11 races at the Canadian Grand Prix and that is the most number of wins by a team in Formula One history.

Source:  Amazines.com