Verstappen achieved his second pole of 2022 in Canada, but had to share the spotlight with an Alonso who achieved an unexpected second place in the standings.
The Spaniard, laughing, declared as soon as he got out of his car that he believed he was going to attack Max at turn 1, and then, calmer on DAZN F1, he insisted that he hoped to make the Red Bull man nervous.
However, Fernando Alonso himself admitted that even if he managed to get first on the first lap, then he doesn’t have the pace to fight one on one for the win, and Max Verstappen said more or less along the same lines.
When also on DAZN F1 they mentioned to the Dutchman the ‘threat’ of the Spanish, the world champion replied smiling: “It’s fine. I have a lot of respect for Fernando, and I’m sure he’s going to try, but he knows he doesn’t have rhythm in the race to fight for victory. I completely understand.”
“We also have to focus on our career and not take too many risks.”
Before the media, Alonso had joked saying that he had been warning Verstappen for 20 minutes of his intentions at the start. But beyond the touch of humor, the two-time champion has reason to be very happy, and that is that he achieved his first row on the grid since Germany 2012 , ten years ago.
The #33, still on the main straight of Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, had been asked if he expected an easy win. His biggest rival for the world championship, Leclerc, will start at the back of the grid after changing engine, while his teammate Pérez, who is second in the championship, will start 13th after an error and accident in Q2.
“I want to say, of course, that I hope it will not be an easy race, but I think this Saturday, with the difficult conditions, we kept calm, made no mistakes and made the right decisions in Q3.”
“So of course, you know, I’m super happy to get pole position here and also to come back to Montreal after a long time. It’s great to see all the local fans.”
Going into Sunday’s race, Verstappen leads the drivers’ championship with 150 points, 21 more than Sergio Pérez, and 34 more than Charles Leclerc.
