Alonso will fully attack Verstappen at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix | NOW

Fernando Alonso plans to fully attack pole sitter Max Verstappen at the start of the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. The two-time world champion surprisingly captured the second starting spot on Saturday and is eager to take the lead.

“We are still missing some downforce, some grip. But we are very well prepared for tomorrow. I want to finish that work. In the first corner I fully attack. Then Max and Carlos (Sainz, ed.) can do their thing. , but I want to lead the race for a while,” Alonso said after qualifying.

The last time the experienced Alpine driver led a Formula 1 race was in Hungary last year. He was then allowed to call himself leader in a Grand Prix for the first time in eight years.

Forty-year-old Alonso was one of the drivers who thrived in the wet conditions in Montreal. Kevin Magnussen, Mick Schumacher and Guanyu Zhou, among others, also surprisingly made it to Q3.

As qualifying went on, the rain started to subside and the track dried up. “I thought it would be better for us if the track got wetter instead of drier, but it kept going well,” said Alonso.

‘Fifth would feel like a win’

Alonso realizes that despite his excellent starting position, he will not participate for the victory on the almost certainly dry Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. According to the Spaniard, the difference with the top is simply too great.

“More than half a second behind Max is a world of difference. I hadn’t thought of pole in my wildest dreams. This second place is already unexpected,” said Alonso, who mainly wants to give up as few places as possible.

“I don’t know exactly what is realistically possible. We have to fight for a place in the top five and know our place. Ferrari and Red Bull are so much faster. If we are fifth it would feel like a victory.”

Behind Verstappen and Alonso, Sainz and Lewis Hamilton occupy the second row. The Canadian Grand Prix starts on Sunday at 8 p.m. Dutch time.