“The season is not even at the halfway stage yet, and in Ferrari, we have very strong competition. Last year, we were fighting against teams who had reliability problems – but that won't happen with
Ferrari. They will be there at every race, and very strong in Canada as well. So we are still attacking, still being aggressive, putting new parts on the car and trying to push the limits at every race. That's the only approach we can afford to take this season.”
Buoyed by the news that he will remain in a
Renault seat for another year,
Giancarlo Fisichella will be determined to find the kind of form that saw him out qualify and largely outpace Alonso in last year’s race.
At the same time though he will be keen to avoid the double retirement Renault suffered in 2005 courtesy of Alonso’s collision and Fisichella’s mechanical problems.
“It was one of our strongest performances of the year but also our worst result of the season. We had a strong package there in 2005, and I was leading the race when I retired. I have a great memory of the first part of that race, and I want to carry on where I left off last year – at the front of the field. The Renault package should be very strong in Canada, and we want to be fighting for the win.”
Indeed, Fisichella has an envious record at Canada even when his pace in 2005 is not taken into account, having visited the podium four times. However, he has yet to win there, which means there is only one result the Italian is looking for this weekend.
“I have been on the podium four times in Canada – twice in third, and twice in second. So there's only one place missing from my record… I think we can go to Canada and be confident of fighting for the win. We need a clean weekend of course, to get maximum track time and make sure there are no problems in practice or qually. But if we get that, then I will be aiming to make it five podiums in Canada – and to do it from the top step of the podium.”
McLaren – Kimi Raikkonen (#3), Juan Pablo Montoya (#4):
Coming away from
Silverstone having perhaps confirmed McLaren-Mercedes position in the
Formula One pecking order, Kimi Raikkonen came close to beating Ferrari but was never realistically able to take on Alonso.
