Canadian Grand Prix: Fernando Alonso takes cheeky jab at old team Ferrari | F1 | Sport

Fernando Alonso aimed a cheeky jab at his former team, Ferrari, following Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s Canadian Grand Prix qualifying nightmare on Saturday. Both Ferrari drivers were eliminated in Q2 after being forced onto used soft compound tyres, plummeting the Prancing Horse back down to earth after victory in Monaco last time out.

Leclerc and Sainz will start Sunday’s race on the sixth row in 11th and 12th, respectively, while Alonso qualified in P6.

The Aston Martin driver has endured a dismal previous two races, finishing outside the points in Emilia Romagna (19th) and Monaco (11th).

But he is happy to have qualified ahead of big names, including Mercedes‘ Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull‘s Sergio Perez, who exited in Q1 in the second successive race weekend.

Alonso couldn’t help but take a dig at Leclerc and Sainz’s qualifying failures, poking fun at their celebrations after the former won the Monaco Grand Prix at the end of May.

“I’m happy with the result after the last races in which we started quite behind,” Alonso told Marca.

“We are two-tenths from pole [position], and based on how the car went in this session and how the lap went, I think we could have been.

“We’re close to good people, aren’t we? Ahead of [Sergio] Perez and the two Ferraris who suddenly came to win the World Championship after Monte Carlo…”

Alonso spent five years at Ferrari from 2010 to 2014, finishing second in the Drivers’ Championship on three occasions.

He then returned to McLaren on a three-year deal after a row with team principal Marco Mattiacci led to contract negotiations collapsing.

Alonso has a huge opportunity to equal his best finish at least this season in Montreal – fifth on the second race weekend in Saudi Arabia.

The Spanish icon is confident Aston Martin can deliver but insists he and team-mate Lance Stroll, starting in P9, must start well ahead of potential rainfall.

He added: “I think we can do well, but we need to find the path we’ve lost in these last few races. We’ll try to have a race without mistakes.

“It can rain at any time, so we will have to make a good star and always be careful which tyres to fit and see what happens with the weather.”

Leclerc and Sainz won’t be far behind, though, and his comments may serve as added motivation to make things difficult for him at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.