Max Verstappen is seeking to maintain Red Bull's run of seven wins to start the 2023 F1 season; Fernando Alonso is targeting victory and starts second for Aston Martin; watch the Canadian GP live on Sky Sports F1 at 7pm on Sunday, with build-up from 5:30pm
Sunday 18 June 2023 17:14, UK
Fernando Alonso is targeting victory at the Canadian Grand Prix as he thinks "Red Bull can't do everything perfectly".
Red Bull have won each of the seven races this season so far and Alonso has been their closest challenger at most events, standing on the podium five times.
Alonso, who last won 10 years ago at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, will start behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen in second place after Haas' Nico Hulkenberg received a three-place grid penalty.
Hulkenberg had qualified second after being aided by rain and the timing of a red flag during Qualifying, but the German was demoted after being found to have not slowed down sufficiently when the red flag was initially deployed for Oscar Piastri's crash.
Asked by Sky Sports F1, which step of the podium he is targeting, Alonso said: "First!...We will put some pressure on Max. I think he has been winning by 20 or 30 seconds every race, so hopefully a little bit closer than that - force an error or maybe a bad pit stop or something. Red Bull can't do everything perfect, so maybe Sunday is the day.
"We didn't see any [weaknesses with Red Bull]. This is outstanding what they are doing. We need to get better and learn from them. They are the best on basically everything - the pit stops, the starts, tyre warm-up, degradation, they have no weaknesses and Max has been driving outstanding all season. He's a tough competitor but it's a beautiful challenge."
Verstappen will have a big opportunity to extend his 53-point lead in the championship over team-mate Sergio Perez, who starts from 12th.
Twelve months ago, the Dutchman took pole in a wet Qualifying in Montreal and went on to win the race, a performance he hopes to repeat on Sunday.
"We are doing a lot of things well. It's very enjoyable to be part of the team but we can't sit still and dream too much. We have to be on it in the race," he told Sky Sports F1.
"There are still always critical moments where you have to work and do things well because if you make tiny mistakes they are there. Sunday is a different day and we don't know what the weather will do fully, a lot of things can happen."
The reigning world champion added: Fernando had a very good long run. The Ferraris were quite strong in the dry, including also Mercedes, so it's a bit difficult to say at the moment [who will challenge Red Bull the most]."
While Alonso has aspirations of keeping pace with Verstappen, the hunter could become the hunted with Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and George Russell looking to challenge him.
After Hulkenberg's penalty, Hamilton and Russell will line up third and fourth respectively in a result that perhaps flattered them in the wet conditions, with both drivers having trouble getting their intermediate tyres up to temperature.
However, with no further rain expected on Sunday, Mercedes will be confident of delivering strong race pace having showed promising signs as Hamilton led a one-two from Russell in Friday practice.
"I'm hoping it is good tomorrow," said Hamilton, who has won seven times at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, including his maiden F1 win in 2007.
"It's difficult to gauge yesterday because we did our long run at the beginning of the session when the track was a lot slower and the others did it later on, so they're like a second faster.
"So it's really difficult to extrapolate whereabouts we stand, but we're ahead of the Ferraris, Max will be gone most likely, but if I can hold on to Alonso and give him give him hell, that's what I'll do."
Russell came from 12th on the grid to finish alongside Hamilton on the podium in Barcelona two weeks ago, and the Brit is confident he can achieve a similar result from an improved starting position in Mercedes' upgraded W14.
"I think it's the best qualifying of the year after Australia so you know we can absolutely fight for a podium tomorrow," Russell said.
"We finished P3 from P12 in the last race. Now we're saying P5 (now P4) and the car seems just as quick on Sundays. So yeah, looking forward to it."
Sunday June 18
5.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Canadian GP build-up
6:55pm: The Grandstand with Daniel Ricciardo and Will Arnett (via red button)
7pm: THE CANADIAN GRAND PRIX
9pm: Chequered Flag Canadian GP reaction
10pm: Ted's Notebook
