Fernando Alonso is a busy man this season as he has opted for race commitments outside of Formula 1 and hence will be probably be the busiest of all drivers on the F1 circuit.
McLaren’s improved reliability has provided a lot of hope for Alonso this season who cut a largely frustrated figure last season.
He does seem in good spirit this season but isn’t quite happy with McLaren’s straight line pace, something that forces Alonso to do that little extra on racedays.
Alonso fears that the long straights in Canada will once again expose McLaren’s straight line pace and once again put them on the backfoot.
“Obviously we’ve been in Q3 in Barcelona, Q3 [in Monaco],” he said.
“It will be nice to keep that trend in the next coming races and confirm our progress.
“But I think Canada is going to be challenging. It’s a tough circuit with long straights. Our lack of speed maybe is a penalty there. It will be a good test for us.”
Renault are bringing in a ‘B-spec’ version of its power unit for the Canadian GP but they have conceded the fact that the ‘pace issues’ are not just due to the engine and have a lot to do with the car too.
Vandoorne though is positive about how McLaren are moving in the right direction and is confident that they will get better in the coming days.
“We have a clear direction for our team in terms of where the car needs to improve,” he said.
“I think the past couple of weeks we’ve made a small step forward and I think there’s a big push now in the factory to make even bigger gains over the next few weeks.” he concluded.
