McLaren driver Kimi Raikkonen of Finland arrives for the first practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Friday. (Reuters)

It’s Round 8 and we are in North America for the next two races. The first leg of the European circuits is over and though I haven’t performed well, we continue to remain positive.

The last two races in Monaco and Nuerburgring were very disappointing. In Nuerburgring, I made a few mistakes in the qualifying session and had to start from the back of the grid.

However, I feel we had a good start in the race and after the first lap I had managed to gain a few places due to an incident in the first corner, which saw a few cars and drivers lose out.

In the past two weeks, both my teammate Tiago Monteiro and I escaped from the bustling paddock of the Canadian Grand Prix and went to Lake Sacacomie. It’s a really quiet and peaceful place out in the wild. Since this place is at a high altitude, the air is thinner thus making training more challenging.

We did mountain-biking, kayaking, rafting, hiking and other fitness sessions to prepare for this race. And on most occasions this routine was followed for more than six hours a day.

The Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Montreal is a very high-speed circuit where cars can reach a speed of about 340 kmph. It’s a lot like the circuit in Australia but a bit narrower. It has a mixture of long fast straights and tight slow corners, which allows for overtaking. The track is however, very dusty and slippery and you need to use a lot of the curbs in order to get a fast time.

I have not raced here before unlike my teammate but it seems like an easy circuit to get a hand of. The good thing about North America compared to Europe is that everything over here is in abundance.

The hotels and the rooms we stay in are bigger. Almost everything is on a larger scale, which makes you love this continent. I’ve had a good time so far in Canada and I hope raceday turns out to be good, too.

At the moment we are still struggling with the car and our aim for the next few races will be to finish the race. Trevor Carlin, who was our team’s sporting director, has stepped down from his position. He must be having his reason for doing so, but I am not aware of it.

This obviously does not help our cause. However, he has shown us the right direction and we, as a team, need to make sure we follow that path. In the past Jordan has performed comparatively well in Canada and we would like to keep that trend going.

Both Alonso and Raikkonen look in a different league this season and once again will be the drivers to watch out. I am sure Raikkonen will be raring to go after his misfortune in the last lap of the European Grand Prix.