Fernando Alonso topped the times in Montreal on Friday, although the Ferrari driver was helped by a disjointed session which saw red flags disrupt the quick runs of many drivers.
Alonso was happy with progress, but he remains a little cautious.
“I think it was OK for us,” said Alonso. “Obviously we tried to concentrate on the two types of tyre, the soft and the supersoft tyre. We had a little bit of an aerodynamic programme this morning with some things to analyse on the rear wings, so we tried to complete our programme. We didn’t concentrate on the times or whatever so it’s always positive to see yourself in the first four or five positions at the end of the practice, but to be honest today is not really important.
“We also topped the practice in Monaco and then in qualifying Vettel was one second quicker than us. We know that tomorrow is the day to put everything and we know Red Bull will be very strong and probably the favourite, and also at the moment it’s supposed to rain, especially on Sunday. So the job we did today maybe just for practice because everything can change tomorrow.”
Alonso says Ferrari put a lot of effort into brakes today.
“We had obviously an intense programme on the brakes, we know that Canada is maybe the hardest circuit on the brakes. We had two types of brakes, a different type of cooling on the brakes, so Felipe and me combined the programme to have the best combination. We have to study the results now and prepare the car for tomorrow. But everything seems quite OK, we’re quite happy with the results.”
Regarding strategy, Alonso said: “In between two and four stops can be the possibility, quite an open race.”
Adam Cooper F1 