"I'll attack Max on the first corner" - Fernando Alonso has his target set after taking surprise P2 at 2022 F1 Canadian GP qualifying

Fernando Alonso, who has had a phenomenal time in Montréal all weekend so far, has secured a front-row start for the 2022 F1 Canadian Grand Prix. Having set the second-fastest pace in qualifying, the Spaniard will start behind reigning world champion Max Verstappen.

The two-time world champion has previously won at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, and joked in the post-qualifying media interaction that he would try to do the same on Sunday by attacking Verstappen's Red Bull on the first corner. Alonso said:

“Thanks to the wet conditions today the car was mega. I was so comfortable with driving this car and I think the fans also pushed me to make that extra push. Let’s see... I’ll attack Max on the first corner.”

Fernando Alonso managed to out-qualify his compatriot Carlos Sainz, who initially seemed well-positioned to secure his much anticipated maiden F1 pole position. The rain-ridden qualifying session delivered an absolute spectacle for fans who seemed thrilled for the veteran Spaniard.

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Fernando Alonso feels FIA's technical directive regarding porpoising is a "very difficult topic"

When asked about his opinions regarding the FIA's decision to intervene and tackle the porpoising problems faced by the 2022 F1 cars, Fernando Alonso admitted that he does not really know where he stands.

In the drivers' press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Canadian GP, the Alpine driver described his experiences with the bouncing over the season so far, saying:

“I don’t know honestly. This is a very difficult topic to really have an answer. I think in our case we will just concentrate on the things that we have to do. We’ve been quite okay in the first races, so it seems that we can control it. We just stopped lowering the car at one point because then it’s undriveable. And yeah, only in Barcelona, I think we had a very extreme case, when we had a little bit of a problem setting up the car and we had a very difficult race in Barcelona with the bouncing. I think it was actually the double of what Mercedes experienced in Baku. That was my rate of bouncing in Barcelona but still okay, manageable.”

Meanwhile, pole-sitter Max Verstappen was not thrilled about the technical directive himself, admitting that the problem should be tackled by individual teams internally without the governing body's intervention.