Heading into the ninth race of the season, there are two teams whose teammates where one driver is hammering the other, one of them being Red Bull and the other Aston Martin.
Lance Stroll knows that his team-mate has performed far better and recognises that he must make an effort to improve and contribute points to the team, as he has so far scored just 37 of the Silverstone’s coming team 154 points in the constructors’ championship.
“I think there’s been reasons why it hasn’t been good, but in terms of outright pace, (Fernando has) been more on top of it than me, he’s been quicker, he’s been driving incredibly well. I don’t think I’ve—or we’ve as a team—gotten the most out of our weekends.
“There’s definitely some work to do, some things to improve, Fernando’s at a very high level and I’ve got to definitely work on a few things and get better.”
Fernando Alonso has so far finished on the podium in six of the eight races so far and is only nine points behind Red Bull’s Checo Perez in the fight for P2 in the Drivers’ Championship.
Aston Martin are managing to be fighting for second place in the championship against Mercedes, who have 164 points, and Ferrari, who have scored 122 points so far, which is a great achievement for the English-based team. They had not been able to get out of the midfield for several years, when the squad had other names and faced financial difficulties.
The Canadian driver suffered a cycling accident in pre-season and had to recover from wrist injuries during the flyaways to start the season.
However, the credit he built up for fighting through the pain barrier in the opening races has soon disappeared because of poor performances in recent races, with the exception of the Spanish Grand Prix when he finished in front of Alonso.
“I think we started the season strong, all things considered, Bahrain, Jeddah, Melbourne, I think was good, and then we hit a bit of a rough patch after Baku,” said Stroll. “I know why. Miami was tough because we didn’t put the second set of tires on in Q1, Monaco we had some damage in Q2, Barcelona we were competitive again, then in Canada we had some issues in Q2.”
Stroll says the accident in pre-season, which prevented him from participating in the Bahrain test, has hindered him: “There’s things from the car you’re always looking for, things from me, yeah, I missed a tremendous amount of testing at the beginning of the season, that’s always a big thing.”
Photo Credit: Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team
Nonetheless, the 24-year-old added that he “doesn’t want to make excuses” and that he has a lot to learn from the Spaniard, declaring him the “best teammate” he has ever had. Stroll was quick to praise the driver of car number 14 and stressed that he is extremely impressed and motivated to improve and reach his teammate’s level:
“But, like, in all honesty, Fernando’s been at a really, really high level and even when I felt like some of my best days were really good days, he’s been that little bit quicker and at a really high level.
“I think he’s been doing it his whole career, been getting the most out of every car he’s gotten in, even when they weren’t winning cars he’s been able to win with them, and he’s demonstrating that again this season with this car he’s pushing to the limit and finishing pretty much behind Max (Verstappen) every race. It’s very impressive and I’m definitely motivated to push and get to that level.”
