Alonso back as Ferrari seek to seize control

FERNANDO Alonso may return to his “day job” with a look of envy this weekend as his former team Ferrari seek to seize control of the Formula One world championship at the Canadian Grand Prix, which is set to start at 1am on Sunday night Cambodian time.

The two-time world champion rejoins McLaren Honda after missing last month’s Monaco Grand Prix to race at the Indianapolis 500.

But he will be stepping back from the limelight to the supporting cast while Sebastian Vettel bids for his fourth Ferrari win in seven races this year and the scuderia’s first in Canada since 2004.

Four-time champion Vettel extended his lead ahead of Lewis Hamilton in this year’s title race to 25 points with his Monaco success ahead of teammate Finn Kimi Raikkonen, a triumph shrouded in post-race talk of team orders that cost the 2007 champion a merited victory.

Three-time champion Hamilton, who said he was convinced Ferrari are favouring Vettel, has a chance to bounce back this weekend with champions Mercedes on a circuit where he has won five times, including his maiden triumph in 2007. He bids for a hattrick after winning in 2015 and 2016.

He and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who have struggled with tyreperformance this year, have both enjoyed racing at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in the past and the team may see this race as a key opportunity to claw back lost ground.

Bottas, signed by Mercedes to replace retired 2016 champion Nico Rosberg, was third on the grid for Williams in Canada in 2013 and on the podium in the last two years.

Those statistics suggest both men love the challenge of the high-speed straights, sharp hairpins and unforgiving walls, but in this year’s Mercedes car it may be different. But Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has said his team would fight all the way and that “everything is completely open”.