Aston Martin were the surprise package at the start of the year, with Fernando Alonso racking up 6 podium finishes in 8 races. However, the other side of the garage has been equally disappointing. Lance Stroll hasn’t been able to come anywhere near his teammate and has been extremely disappointing throughout the season. Now, as per a report by F1Maximaal, 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg believes that Stroll’s underperformance is hampering the team a lot, and Aston Martin cannot afford to continue with him.
Stroll has mostly been in the shadows of Alonso throughout the 2023 season. Even though he has had a few good outings this season – a P4 finish in Australia and P6 finishes in Spain and Bahrain – the rest of the season has been extremely disappointing for him.
To paint the picture using statistics, Stroll has only managed to beat his teammate once throughout the 14 races this season. All in all, Stroll has only contributed 22% to the total of 217 points that Aston Martin have right now, making his underperformance even more evident.
Rosberg points out the need for a competitive teammate for Alonso
Following a disastrous outing at the Italian GP, Stroll has now come under criticism from ex-Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg. Talking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Rosberg commented that Stroll had a decent start to the season, where he managed to stay close to Alonso. But as of now, his performance has fallen off, and Rosberg stated, “In the long term, Aston cannot afford to have one driver who lags far behind.”
Rosberg explained the need for a competitive pairing of drivers and said, “Fernando must be challenged. The setup work is better when there are two drivers who really go for it. It’s a different dynamic. It is important to have two fast drivers.”
Therefore, with the likes of McLaren and Williams pulling up and improving their cars, it is imperative that both drivers start scoring points regularly for Aston Martin. Otherwise, even a top 4 finish could become difficult for the Silverstone outfit.
As per Rosberg, there are two solutions to the problem. Either Stroll has to pull up his socks and get closer to his teammate, which is easier said than done. The other choice is that Aston Martin have to look for another driver to fill in for Stroll, which is again a complicated solution, given the relationship Stroll has with the team.
Rosberg believes that Lance Stroll is safe due to the Father-Son Relationship
Rosberg hinted about the fact that being the son of the team owner might mean that Stroll can get away even after performing nowhere near the expected levels. The former racer said, “It’s a father-son relationship, that’s the challenge, that’s what counts. So it’s a tricky issue.”
However, just like F1 journalist Mark Hanselman did recently, Rosberg pointed out that Lance Stroll might be costing his father millions due to his poor performances. Rosberg noted that if Stroll had performed better and Aston Martin were in second place in the constructor’s standings, they would have been earning about $37,395,000 more from the TV income. This might be something that would worry Lawrence Stroll in the long term.
