The Debrief by Aramco: Canadian Grand Prix

We made our way back to North America for round 10 of the 2025 Formula One World Championship in Canada. Get the thoughts of Lance, Fernando and the team following the weekend's action.

After a warm day in Montréal, our drivers qualified P6 and P18 for the Canadian Grand Prix, with temperatures expected to rise tomorrow.

Saturday round-up and reaction

Our duo began Saturday's final Free Practice by running a single lap on the C4 tyre, the Hard compound, before switching to Softs for the rest of the session.
In FP3, Lance ran 28 laps and Fernando completed 21, bringing the team's Free Practice total up to 132 laps.
Fernando opted to begin Qualifying on the Medium tyre while Lance started on Softs. After running the whole of Q1 on a single set of Mediums, Fernando comfortably navigated the segment.
A red flag in Q1 with just over five minutes remaining on the clock resulted in Lance being unable to get his Medium tyres into the optimal window.
Through to Q3, Fernando concluded Qualifying on the Mediums and secured a sixth-place start for the Canadian Grand Prix.

#18 | Lance Stroll | Qualifying

"It was a disappointing day for me. We looked strong on the Softs in the beginning of the session and then got unlucky with the red flag, there wasn't enough time to warm up the Medium tyre and get it in the right window. We lost a lot of time there so starting from P18 tomorrow. The car felt okay, we'll see what we can do in the race - making up positions and getting closer to the points isn't going to be easy but overtaking at this track is possible."

FP3

1:12.794

P14

1:12.517

P18

#14 | Fernando Alonso | Qualifying

"The job today has been done and I'm pleased with P6. I really enjoying driving around this circuit and it's always a fun challenge. The car felt good in Qualifying and I was able to push the car to the limit. Since Imola I have felt a bit more comfortable with understanding the car and I am happy for that. We have to be realistic that it will be tricky tomorrow with a lot of fast cars around us, but we will try to be in the top ten and score some more points."

FP3

1:12.247

1:12.073

1:11.805

1:11.586

Andy Cowell | CEO & Team Principal

"Heading into Qualifying, we knew tyre strategy would be crucial to unlocking performance. With a well-executed plan and strong communication across the team, Fernando delivered a series of impressive laps to reach Q3 and secure a well-deserved P6 on the grid for tomorrow's race.

"Unfortunately for Lance, luck wasn't on his side today. He was showing good pace but only managed one push lap on the Medium tyre before the red flag disrupted the session. Ideally, we needed two laps to bring the tyres into the optimal window. Given the high chance of a Safety Car in tomorrow's race, we will aim to seize any opportunities that come our way."

Next up

Lights out for the Canadian Grand Prix, our 100th race start, takes place tomorrow at 19:00 BST.

Friday

After missing the Spanish Grand Prix, Lance returned to the cockpit to gather valuable data across 25 laps in Free Practice One.
Fernando and Lance spent the majority of the weekend's first Free Practice on the C6 tyre, this weekend's Soft compound.
Our drivers both began FP2 by continuing on the Soft compound. However, Lance's session came to an early end following damage to his AMR25.
Over the course of Friday's sessions, Fernando tallied up a total of 56 laps.

#18 | Lance Stroll | Free Practice

"Feels good to be back in Canada and I'm happy to be back in the car. We've made some setup changes to the car ahead of Canada but unfortunately I had a bit of understeering in FP2 and touched the wall, therefore we didn't get to learn about the changes we made as much. So it's tough to say how the car feels around this track, but we'll restart and go again tomorrow."

FP1

1:14.203

P15

FP2

No time

P19

#14 | Fernando Alonso | Free Practice

"The car felt okay for us today but it's not an easy circuit to put everything together around. The tyres seem to have a very small window too. We know the track is getting grippier throughout the weekend, so in Qualifying we will need to be focused on achieving a clean lap at the right time."

FP1

1:13.972

P12

FP2

1:12.458