Alonso admits Aston Martin’s position in Canada ‘difficult to guess’ after P5 during Friday practice

Fernando Alonso is still waiting for the pecking order to become clear at the Canadian Grand Prix after a decent Friday saw the Aston Martin driver end second practice in fifth place on the timesheets.

Following a difficult start to the season, Alonso claimed his first points of the campaign last time out in Spain and will be looking to continue that momentum at Round 10 on the calendar in Montreal, a venue that the two-time World Champion previously won at back in 2006.

FP2: Russell narrowly leads Norris and Antonelli in Canada after Stroll strikes the wall

After classifying in P12 on the timesheets in first practice, Alonso caught the eye by going fifth quickest in Free Practice 2. However, while he later admitted that the AMR25 had been feeling good, the Spaniard acknowledged that the team’s true position may not become apparent until later in the weekend.

When asked where he feels that the squad are after Friday’s running, Alonso explained: “Difficult to guess. I think this track is always… It was good for us, I think the car feels good, but still not an easy circuit to put a lap together.

Alonso waiting for final practice to give true picture after going P5 in FP2

“You have to try many times, and sometimes it’s in Turn 3, sometimes it’s in the last corner, but you have to take these escape roads and it’s always difficult to put everything together.

“It’s going to be the same tomorrow, so we have to be focused, we have to be lucky also in putting the lap in [at] the right time.

HIGHLIGHTS: Catch the action as Russell tops second practice in Canada

“Also the tyres, they seem to take a [few] laps to get into temperature, but then when they are in temperature they grain, so there’s only one or two laps where you can be performing. So I think it’s going to be the same tomorrow, interesting.”

Much of the field only ran the soft tyre during second practice, yet it was the medium rubber on which George Russell set the fastest lap of the day.

Stroll explains his early exit from FP2 after he hit the wall

In terms of whether the C5 compound might be a Qualifying tyre on Saturday, Alonso responded: “We don’t know. We know the track is getting grippier throughout the weekend, it’s a street circuit so a lot of track evolution. I think we want to do our proper test tomorrow in FP3.”

Alonso became Aston Martin’s sole runner for much of FP2 after team mate Lance Stroll suffered an early crash that put him out of the session. The Canadian later put the incident down to “a bit of understeer” before touching the wall.

WATCH: Stroll crashes during second practice in Canada as he makes return from injury

Like Alonso, Stroll suggested that the car had “felt quite good” prior to his exit from the session, adding: “We made some changes [this morning], unfortunately we didn’t really get to feel the changes we made but we go again tomorrow.”