- Fernando Alonso has earned six podiums in eight races in 2023 to hold third place in the Drivers’ Championship, with 117 points, only nine points behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. B
- Alonso's teammate at Aston Martin, Lance Stroll is only eighth overall with 37 points, 80 points behind his illustrious teammate.
- Stroll has yet to reach the podium this season.
Lance Stroll says he knows he has to up his game with the Aston Martin Formula 1 team, with new teammate Fernando Alonso highlighting the team’s potential in 2023.
Aston Martin has made a year-on-year vault up the order to surge clear of F1’s midfield and emerge in a battle with Mercedes and Ferrari to be second-fastest, behind the dominant Red Bull Racing.
Alonso has earned six podiums in eight races in 2023 to hold third place in the Drivers’ Championship with 117 points, only nine points behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. But Stroll is only eighth overall with 37 points—80 points behind his illustrious teammate—and has yet to grace the podium this season.
Mercedes is second in the Constructors’ Championship with 167 points, while Aston Martin is next with 154, and a gradually improving Ferrari in fourth place with 122.
“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.
“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.”
Stroll conceded that his preseason bicycle accident, which resulted in fractured wrists and led to his absence from testing, did not help his progress but he was keen to emphasize he “doesn’t want to make excuses” and is eager to learn from Alonso, who he labelled “the best teammate” he has had in his career.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
