Fernando Alonso (7th then 9th after penalties, Alpine): “We had an engine problem on lap 20. It cut the energy very early on the straights, as soon as you came out of the corners. We tried to fix it but it didn’t work. Until then, we were fighting for the podium. At the start of the race I felt strong compared to Hamilton, we just didn’t have the pace of Verstappen and Sainz, but it was okay to control Hamilton and the Mercedes.
When the engine problem happened, you just had to try to survive, try to get the DRS, drive like a suicide bomber in the corners before detection, because the DRS was my only safety in a straight line. This is obviously a new reliability issue, on car 14 only, so that’s disappointing.
I’m here to do better than sixth and seventh. If we didn’t finish on the podium or higher, it’s because we had a reliability problem on car 14, and unfortunately maybe because of the virtual safety car, but you can’t control luck. Reliability on car 14 had to be a bit better. »
Carlos Sainz (2nd, Ferrari): “I pushed hard. I didn’t leave a centimeter with the walls, in the braking. I gave it my all with the drums. I tried everything to overtake Max (Verstappen). But today we just didn’t have the delta needed to be close enough in the hairpin, to then shift before the chicane. But the positive is that we were faster, during the whole race.
We just needed that little something to overtake. I’m particularly happy with the race pace, the way we handled the pressure on Max throughout the race, and I think the timing of the pit stops was good. Honestly we tried everything, we were very, very close to winning today (sunday). I will keep the positive and I will continue to attack next time. »
Lewis Hamilton (3rd, Mercedes): “I am frankly overwhelmed with emotion to have obtained this third place. It’s such a battle this year for our team, with the car. But we remain vigilant and focused so that we never give up.
It’s something I’m very proud of, and my mechanics and engineers inspire me. Like I said, I wasn’t expecting this going into the weekend. This is my second podium of the year. It’s really special, especially where I got the first Grand Prix victory. I love Montreal. »
Charles Leclerc (5th, Ferrari): “Everything was going pretty well although it was frustrating at times because I was just in a train of cars, they had the DRS in front of me so there was clearly nothing I could do. I just had to be patient. We waited for the pit stop, which unfortunately was slow, and that put us behind four cars which all had DRS so we had to redo all the work.
If we look at all that, fifth is the best position we could do so we will take the points. Now we focus on Silverstone where I hope everything will go well and we can go there to win. We have to focus on ourselves. We had problems, now we have to fix them and move on. »
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#Fernando #Alonso #Alpine #Reliability
