It will arrive tomorrow and someone will wonder who was the best. Lewis Hamilton has seven Formula 1 World Championships, Fernando Alonso with two and it is likely that both will retire with those numbers. How to defend the Spanish in that duel of legends then. His candidacy seems impossible in the face of such elementary statistics, so historical, so clear. But among many other things in Alonso's side there will be two overtaking this year, in March in Bahrain and this Sunday in Montreal, to wield as a weapon. At least no one will be able to deny an argument: the Spanish twilight is the brightest in history. At 41 years old, Alonso once again surpassed Hamilton, 38, in an action of skill, with similar cars, without using strategies.
On lap 22 of the 70 planned in Canada, the Spaniard drew an overtaking to remember in the last chicane of the Canadian circuit. At the end of the straight he hooked up with Hamilton, overtook him on the inside in such slow corners and managed to brake his Aston Martin in front in a miraculous way. Before he had failed at the start, giving up his second place to the British, and had been inches away from overtaking him in the first pass through the garage. Later, with the second stop in the pits, he kept up with Hamilton's rhythm until he left him three seconds behind at the finish line.. For the second time this season, he finished second. For the sixth time this course, he finished on the podium. One more success for Alonso that could have been even greater, the greatest possible.
This is the F1 circuit of the Canadian Grand Prix
Verstappen, closer
“I want to win the race, man,” the Aston Martin leader acknowledged to his track engineer with 20 laps to go. It was not the wish of a delusional. It was not a utopia at all. For a few laps, the undoubted Max Verstappen was in doubt. For a few laps, Alonso enjoyed a real chance of victory in Montreal. This time it was not the rain in Monaco, it was not the characteristics of the circuit and it was not even a mistake by Verstappen: he could have won or at least try. With five seconds behind the Dutchman, Alonso launched the attack and cut him several tenths, but at that moment his car failed him. At the last chicane, where he had made art against Hamilton, he passed by. In that conversation with his engineer, the Spaniard asked for permission to squeeze the brakes and that permission never came.
At the end of the race, Alonso's radio heard a lament: “Without that problem we could have approached Max”. Although neither the driver nor the team provided details, at one point the Aston Martin's brakes overheated and the driver was forced to control. Despite this, second place was enough to maintain the evolution of this season. Since that premiere in Bahrain that Hamilton already suffered, Alonso is getting closer, closer and closer to victory number 33 of his career and his team helps him with new pieces like the ones installed this weekend. The disappointment of Montmeló, where the two Mercedes drivers were faster, remained a scare. Victory will come if Verstappen gets confused or even if he doesn't.
Ferrari's comeback
Nobody threatens behind either. In Montreal, the problems were confirmed, the many problems that hover over many of those pilots who should be eligible for the podiums that Alonso enjoys. On the one hand, 'Checo' Pérez plunged into the crisis that has separated him from the battle for the title and on the other, the Ferraris enjoyed a reality that is rather worrying. After the first few races in which the Mexican seemed like a World Cup contender, another Red Bull that he dominated, a prodigious driver, in Canada it became clear that he is not up to Verstappen and that he will suffer for taking the runner-up spot against Alonso. From his twelfth position on the grid he was able to come back to finish sixth, but it was thanks to the strategy, he never showed himself to be superior to the rest.
Something similar happened to Ferrari. The fourth place of Charles Leclerc and the fifth of Carlos Sainz will be cause for celebration in Maranello -they started tenth and eleventh-, but what will the future say. The good management of the engineers of the only safety car in the race cannot hide the fact that the two team drivers were stuck in the pack for several laps and struggled to make their way.