Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is making an optimistic but cautious bid to ‘score good points’ at this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

While Lewis Hamilton is a fans favourite to win, the boring bookmakers have selected Sebastian Vettel as their preffered choice. 

Fernando Alonso gives his take on his race in Monaco and what he must do this weekend. 

Assessing the challenges that lie ahead for Ferrari in the short term, Alonso said: “We were hoping for some consistent results, but in Monaco we did not pick up so many points, so now we need four or five races on the podium or at least very near the podium in order to recover some of the points we have lost.

“All the races are different and unique and this weekend will be a tricky one with the weather conditions. Anything can happen especially in the wet and we saw in qualifying in Monaco, that when the rain came it was chaotic: it means that if you are not on track at the end if the track is drying, or if you have a problem with a yellow flag or you make a small mistake, then you are out. 

“So it will be a case of maximum concentration to do well here and also in the coming races, at Silverstone, Germany and Hungary. So every Thursday it will be a case of saying the same thing, ‘we must score good points.’”

Despite being nearly as talented as Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso believes luck will play a huge part in this year’s Formula One World Championship. 

“We have had some unlucky situations this year, like when I had a slight touch in Malaysia which put me out of the race, while we have seen for example Hamilton and Vettel touching in Barcelona and they were both able to continue,” he said. “However, in Monaco it was simply a case of not having the pace. At this stage of the season, we have two more points than last year when we were leading the championship, so in a way we are doing a little bit better than last year. What is not so normal is the amount of points Sebastian (Vettel) has scored in the last six races - a lot! 

“We need to try and finish in front of him, because everyone has bad luck at some point and it will come to him as well. Kimi had his bad luck in Monaco with the accident, so that we are now only five points behind him.”

Ferrari has been unlucky in Montreal over the years. Can this weekend prove to be different for the former double world champion? “It’s true we’ve never had really great results here,” Alonso explained. 

“Some of the inconsistency was down to strange circumstances, but it’s a circuit that’s a little bit tricky to understand, as it changes all through the weekend: not just the surface but also the wind can change a lot which affects your braking points, plus there is no room for mistakes, just like at a street circuit with the walls so close, but hopefully this year we can do a bit better.”