Lance Stroll was under quite some pressure at the Canadian GP after his father, Lawrence Stroll, asked him to step up his game and match Fernando Alonso‘s performance. Even though Lance could not manage to do so in Canada, Papa Stroll can expect his son to start fulfilling his expectations after Lance Stroll came out with a health update.
Aston Martin chairman Lawrence Stroll had put forward an unrealistic task in front of his son Lance ahead of the Canadian GP. The Canadian billionaire wanted Lance to secure a double podium alongside Alonso in Canada.
He even claimed that Lance would finish equal in points with Alonso by the end of the season. However, with how things stand right now, it is not too realistic of Lawrence to hope that something like that will happen.
Father Stroll: “Alonso and Lance will be equal by the end of the season”
Discuss 😉#AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/AM3dcbSCar
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) June 30, 2023
Stroll is struggling in P8 in the driver’s standings with just a paltry 37 points compared to Alonso, who is in P3 with 117 points and chasing Sergio Perez for second place. With 6 podiums to his name already, Alonso has been lightyears ahead of his Canadian teammate this season.
A Lance Stroll comeback might be on the cards
Lance might start performing better as he provided a crucial health update ahead of the Austrian GP. The 24-year-old has confirmed that he is 100% fit from his injuries that happened before the season started.
Talking to F1TV’s Lawrence Baretto, Lance said, “Yeah, I’m feeling good, thanks for asking. I’m back to 100%,” When asked if his training regime has returned to normal, he replied positively. He added, “Got back into shape and feeling good.”
#LS18 🗣 “I’m feeling good and back to 100%. We have a fast race car, we’ve been competitive on all different kinds of tracks so looking forward to this weekend. This track is one I look forward to on the calendar, it’s very high speed and has a nice flow to it.” #AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/PyaIWB4dBc
— Lance Stroll Fans 🍁 (@LanceStrollFans) June 29, 2023
It was widely believed that he would miss out on the season opener in Bahrain, but Lance made an amazing recovery and was back in his car right when the season started. He finished a respectable P6 in Bahrain. Ever since then, he has been outperformed regularly by Alonso, but with the injuries completely out of the way, a comeback might be on the cards for the younger Aston Martin driver.
Why hasn’t Lance Stroll been able to perform like Alonso
Multiple factors have led to Lance being unable to perform at his teammate’s level. Keeping aside the injury factor, the fact that he is constantly compared to a two-time world champion with much more experience than him does not really help him.
Not everyone agreed with Lawrencel’s idea that Lance could catch up with Alonso. Red Bull’s Helmut Marko had labeled the idea as ‘unrealistic.’
Even though it might seem unrealistic on the surface, the truth is Lance has the same machinery underneath him as Alonso. With his injuries out of the way, the Canadian driver might be able to extract more from the Aston Martin and make a grand comeback.
