Highlights - Canadian Grand Prix

By Mark Hughes BBC F1 commentary box producer

Fernando Alonso's third place in Canada might have been a victory were it not for Jarno Trulli's Lotus being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But any disappointment at Ferrari might be very short-lived - because they have something up their sleeve for the next race that might just catapult them to the front.

The car with which Alonso was fighting for victory in Montreal was virtually identical to that which had qualified eighth and 12th, 0.7 seconds off the pace, in Turkey two weeks ago.

The very different characteristics of the two tracks is the only explanation for the car's wildly differing form.

At Istanbul, the Ferrari was losing almost 0.5secs to the Red Bulls through the fast Turn Eight, whereas at Montreal there are no fast corners, only long straights connected by slow turns.

The Ferrari has very good "mechanical" grip - ie grip derived not from aerodynamic downforce but the mechanical qualities associated with its suspension geometry and kinematics, braking, traction and general dynamics that dominate at low speeds.

This was pretty much all that was required for Alonso to have the tool at his disposal to dissect the tricky track's demands.

Could he have won without the untimely baulking by the Lotus just as he was set to leapfrog past Lewis Hamilton?

That's open to debate but he would almost certainly have passed the McLaren at that point. Whether he could have remained in front for the duration of the race is less certain.

With Alonso hot on Hamilton's tail, McLaren had brought their man in on lap 26. Usually, whichever guy comes in first is at a strategic advantage, in that he will be on his fresh tyres while his opponent is still on the worn ones.

Alonso happy with third after difficult race

At Montreal that was not the case because the medium compound tyres were taking about three laps before they came up to full working temperature.

So as Hamilton rejoined he was unable to lap particularly quickly. Alonso, by contrast, had kept his tyres in great shape and, with the McLaren out of the way, was now flying.

With Hamilton lapping in the one minute, 21 seconds as his tyres came up to temperature, Alonso reeled off a 1min 19secs, already enough to have cleared the McLaren, and it was as he was maintaining that hot pace on his in-lap that Trulli got in the way through turns six-seven, costing Alonso about two seconds. The near-certainty of passing the McLaren had gone.

Later Alonso lost even his second place to more traffic - Hispania's Karun Chandhok checking the Ferrari's momentum and allowing Jenson Button by.

But Button had already been putting a lot of pressure on and the fact that at this stage of the race Button was clearly quicker than Alonso poses the question of whether Alonso would have had the pace to have remained in front of Hamilton even if he had managed to get ahead at the stops.

Maybe he could have hung on but it would have been a case of controlling the combative Hamilton in a faster car at a track where passing is possible. Possible but not easy.

Hamilton delighted after 'sensational' win

Valencia's demands are similar to those of Montreal, although it does demand a little more downforce. So the Ferrari should be set to be competitive again anyway.

But it is likely to be even more so, given that it receives a major aerodynamic upgrade that the team is very excited about based on what they have seen in the wind tunnel. Central to this is a new Red Bull-like exhaust-blown rear end.

It is widely believed that an intrinsic part of the Red Bull's stunning performance to date has been this feature, wherein the exhaust gas scavenges the airflow around the diffuser and rear beam wing much faster and more efficiently.

Rumours are that it is worth as much as 0.7secs per lap - coincidentally about the average qualifying deficit Ferrari has had to Red Bull to date.

Ferrari are said to have been staggered when they saw in the tunnel just how much this feature improved things.

ANDREW BENSON'S BLOG Alonso is 15 points behind Hamilton, with Sebastian Vettel a further four adrift. If that sounds a lot, it is worth remembering that 15 points is what you get for a third place

Other teams are also working on their own versions - with McLaren, Renault and Williams expected to introduce their versions at Silverstone but that gives Ferrari a one race head start.

If it all works as well as the tunnels suggests and Red Bull cannot find a similarly sized chunk from a car that already has this feature, we could well be looking at a very serious title challenge from Ferrari into the second half of the season.

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