By role
June 17 2003

Flavio Briatore, Renault F1 boss, was quite vocal at praising the young Spaniard race at the Gilles Villeneuve track in Canada. Fernando ALonso fought a strong race to finish 4th just 2 seconds behind race winner Michael Schumacher. He also set the fastest lap of the race. His boss was quite happy for his effort:

“To finish just barely two seconds from the winner is an incredible result for Fernando. We had good pit-stops today and the whole Team, both on the engine and the chassis sides, did a fantastic job. We are pleased to have strengthened our fourth position in the Constructors’ Championship, and for Fernando to have confirmed his third place in the Drivers’.” Said Briatore.

Alonso was indeed happy for the result:

“I’m happy with the result, especially because I finished the race in the leading group. For the first time this year, we were really fighting for the win, and it was a good feeling! I lost some time during my first stint, but managed to catch it up again at the end, even though I could not get past the cars in front. It has been a very positive weekend, and I particularly want to thank the team because I didn’t have a single problem with the car all weekend. We go to the next race in a strong position in the Constructors’ and the Driver’s Championships.”

However, Trulli was indeed the one with the worst of lucks on Sunday as his race evolved into a nightmare:

“To put it simply, nothing went right for me today. At the start I seemed to find a lot of traffic on the run to the first corner, then Pizzonia hit the rear of my car in the second hairpin on lap two, which punctured the tyre. After that, I was having trouble controlling the car and I pitted a second time, where the Team identified a broken left front wheel. When I got back out on the circuit, I spun on the exit of Turn 10 with a traction control problem, and then had to retire because of the damage sustained in the collision. To say it was a bad day for me would be quite an understatement.” Said the Italian driver.