Lance Stroll was utterly thrashed by new team mate Fernando Alonso last year, but has measured up against him more convincingly so far this season. He has already performed better on several metrics than he managed across the whole of last year.
For example, Stroll has already out-qualified Alonso five times this year, compared to just three the whole of 2023. He’s finished ahead five times compared to two and most tellingly has spent 251 laps in front of his team mate, again more than he did across the entire 2023 season.
What’s behind this improvement? Aston Martin have taken a step backwards from the glory days of last year, when Alonso accounted for all eight of their podium appearances. The AMR24 is not as clear an improvement over its predecessors as, for example, the W15. Alonso has been especially frustrated by its sometimes unpredictable handling.
Nonetheless the two-times world champion, F1’s most experienced driver of all time, is still leading the way on every count. And Stroll tipped the balance slightly in his favour by ignoring the team’s instruction to let Alonso past on the last lap in Hungary, having been waved past his team mate a few laps earlier in his unsuccessful pursuit of Yuki Tsunoda.
Alonso is the latest in a series of strong team mates Stroll has been able to learn from at his father’s team. How far his improvement this year is a result of the lessons he has picked up from the champion alongside him, and how far it is a consequence of the team’s troubles with its latest car, should become apparent in the second half of the season and beyond, as the pair are set to remain at the team until at least 2026.
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Alonso vs Stroll: Season summary
Alonso vs Stroll: Race-by-race
Unrepresentative comparisons omitted. Negative value: Alonso was faster; Positive value: Stroll was faster
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Formula 1
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