Fernando Alonso is hoping for a change of luck at the European Grand Prix after saying "in the race in Montreal, not one damned thing went right."
Alonso qualified second in Canada, just 0.185 seconds behind pole sitter Sebastian Vettel, giving Ferrari its best qualifying result of the season so far. In the race, however, the changeable conditions caught Alonso out, leaving him eighth when the race restarted after the red flag period. In trying to climb back through the field he was involved in contact with Jenson Button at turn three and retired.
Alonso told the Ferrari website that he'd been unfortunate in Valencia in the past, highlighting last year when he was running third behind Lewis Hamilton, only for Hamilton to sneak past the safety car as it joined the track and finish second while Alonso ended up eighth.
"To tell the truth, I've never been that lucky in this race since it's been held on the Valencia street circuit," Alonso said. "Especially last year when, despite having a very competitive car, I finished down in eighth place. However, everyone remembers what happened with the appearance of the Safety Car and there's no point going over it again.
"I always believe that luck and bad luck balance out by the end of the season and maybe this unwritten rule also applies to race tracks. If that's the case, I would be more than happy if last year's misfortune was paid back now! In fact, it seems that in general so far this season, luck has not come our way: in the race in Montreal, not one damned thing went right."
Alonso also said that he was encouraged by the competitiveness that Ferrari had showed in both Monaco and Canada, and that he expected that to continue in Valencia with the only unknown being medium compound Pirelli tyres.
"At the last two races, we showed we were clearly capable of winning and, especially in Monaco, we came pretty close, although I believe that even in Canada I could have fought for it all the way to the end, given what we had seen in qualifying. Now we go to a track with reasonably similar characteristics to Montreal and there is no obvious reason why we should not be competitive here too.
"The 150ยบ Italia will be pretty much in the same configuration seen at the last race and the major new element will be the race debut of the Pirelli Medium compound tyre, running alongside the Soft... In Montreal, we were able to assess these tyres during the two free practice sessions on Friday, but it's one thing to do a few laps on a track that is not necessarily that well adapted to this type of tyre and quite another to evaluate it in depth with an eye on qualifying and the race."
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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