Despite Aston Martin’s astonishing rise in the 2023 F1 season, they haven’t been getting equal help from both their drivers. While Fernando Alonso has been brilliant so far, his teammate Lance Stroll has failed him. Additionally, he is even struggling to contribute to a decent points haul during a Grand Prix weekend.
Any team that has their focus on the Constructors’ championship needs both of their drivers to fire. But as of now, only Alonso has been carrying the team and looking at further targets. In a time where Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari are getting pushed by both of their drivers, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll has not been up to the mark.
Now, the Canadian driver’s former opponent has questioned his place on the team. Ben Anderson, the current Group F1 Editor at The Race has asked if the 24-year-old really deserves to be in the seat if he wasn’t ‘sponsored’ by his billionaire father.
Admittedly, Anderson was Stroll’s competitor in the 2014 Florida Winter Series. Interestingly, Max Verstappen, Will Buxton, and Nicholas Latifi were also there in the competition.
Anderson asks about Lance Stroll’s legitimacy
Stroll is currently occupying P8 in the driver’s championship with 37 points to his name. Alonso, despite having the same car is in P3 with 117 points and six podiums. That’s 80 points more than the Canadian driver’s tally.
Asking questions about Stroll’s Aston Martin seat, Anderson stated, “Even if the other guy’s a little bit off that level, Stroll isn’t bringing the kind of level of technical understanding or ability to push the development of the car forward.”
Merci Montréal! pic.twitter.com/lb6zu8L6LF
— Lance Stroll (@lance_stroll) June 20, 2023
“He’s the guy learning off Alonso, so he’s a drag on that team overall. I don’t see the qualities there in Stroll. Beyond the peer speed or the sealing on his race car to justify that seat,” concluded Anderson in The Race F1 Podcast.
Furthermore, opinion makers including Edd Straw and Valentin Khorounzhiy also agreed with Anderson that Stroll isn’t providing any technical understanding to the team, like Mark Webber and Valtteri Bottas did with Red Bull and Mercedes respectively.
Lance Stroll and his Aston Martin future
Despite all the criticism and questions, the panel including Anderson agreed to the fact that Stroll isn’t a bad driver. Moreover, the young Canadian has often delivered when the Silverstone-based outfit was a regular feature in the midfield.
Furthermore, he isn’t eating away anyone’s spot with his father’s money. In a nutshell, Stroll is believed to be failing to match the elite class of Alonso and hence is lacking confidence with the AMR23.
All in all, it’ll be interesting to see when Lance Stroll finally takes his form in the upward trajectory. It’ll also be interesting to find out if Lawrence Stroll decides to sack his son with the entire media questioning Stroll’s performance.
