• Canadian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Updates paying off - Alonso

Fernando Alonso: "We feel much happier now with the balance of the car and the grip of the car" © Sutton Images

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Fernando Alonso says his third-place grid position at the Canadian Grand Prix is proof that Ferrari's upgrades are starting to pay off this season.

Alonso was struggling to make the top-ten shootout in qualifying at the start of the year, but in recent races he has been closer to the front of the grid and in Canada he looked like a genuine contender for pole position. Ferrari has brought updates to the car at the last three grands prix, with an obvious evolution of the exhaust layout over the last two race weekends.

"The car felt quite good yesterday when we tested some new parts and we feel much happier now with the balance of the car and the grip of the car," Alonso said. "Felipe and me felt it straightaway so it's a good step. The world will never stop for us and the other competitors, but at the moment we are extremely happy and thankful to the guys in the factory."

Ferrari technical director Pat Fry told Sky Sports that this weekend's upgrades are on a similar scale to the improvements the team made in Spain.

"It's a similar size upgrade here to the one we took to Barcelona, to be honest," he said. "We obviously made a step forward in Barcelona and in Monaco we had a few very tiny modifications and here it's just a continual progression. It's nice that everyone's hard work is paying off and we're slowly closing the gap. But we've still got a couple of tenths to gain by the looks of it."

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