Fernando Alonso: “Sensitive” Lance Stroll “crucial” to Aston Martin development

Two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso believes Lance Stroll being “more sensitive” to Aston Martin’s car handling is “crucial” to the team’s development.

Alonso has dominated teammate Stroll since joining Aston Martin at the start of 2023.

The Spaniard scored eight podiums to Stroll’s zero, out-scoring him 206-74 in terms of points.

Despite his lack of on-track results, Stroll’s future is secure, particularly as his father, Lawrence, owns the team.

However, while Stroll has struggled to bring the big points home, Alonso feel that the Canadian plays a crucial role within the team.

“Lance and myself, we are trying to help the team as much as we can, he said in the pre-Chinese GP FIA press conference. “I think we have two different driving styles in some conditions, we have two different feelings with the car.

“I think Lance is a lot more sensitive to things than what I am, which is very important for the team. I think the analysis that Lance can reach and can feed back to the team is crucial to us and to improve the car.

“I’m a little bit un-sensitive to things sometimes and this is not a good thing. We are both trying to help Aston as much as we can and I think the direction that we develop the car and we normally finalise the set-ups on a weekend and it’s exactly the same.

“So, we arrive at the same conclusions, maybe in a different way, and I think those two different styles are just a good thing for Aston.”

Alonso conceded that one of his best traits - driving around “the problems” a car has - isn’t ideal for a team’s development, relying on Stroll’s feedback.

“Sometimes I drive the car around the problems that we have,” he added. “And that’s sometimes a good thing because I can drive any car at any moment and extract 90% of it.

“But to reach 100% of the potential of the car, sometimes I’m not able to do [that] without sometimes the help from my team-mate on special details on the set-up or balance problems here and there.

“So, I think we benefit from each other in many different ways and this is a good thing at the moment.”