Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, Monaco, 2023

Stroll’s problem has been bad luck, not poor performance – Alonso

2023 Spanish Grand Prix

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Lance Stroll needs a change of luck after failing to score in half of the races so far this year, says his team mate.

Fernando Alonso has out-scored Stroll by 93 points to 27 over their six races together at Aston Martin so far this season. However the twice-champion says his team mate hasn’t had the rub of the green so far this year.

“I think Lance has been very, very unlucky the last two events,” said Alonso.

Stroll’s participation in the first race of the season was put in doubt when he injured his wrists in a pre-season cycling crash which forced him to miss testing. “I think we go back to Bahrain, driving with one hand he was very fast. Then Jeddah he had the exhaust problem when he was in front of the Ferraris in P5.”

Stroll was narrowly eliminated in Q1 in Miami, while Alonso progressed, when the team tried to make it through the first round without using a second set of soft tyres. “In Miami we were risking too much probably in Q1 and that compromised the race,” said Alonso.

In Monaco, where Alonso qualified on the front row, Stroll failed to reach the final 10. His first run in Q2 wasn’t quick enough, he lost time missing the weigh bridge then picked up debris on his final run.

“In Monaco the debris from Lando’s car, the McLaren, completely compromised the whole weekend,” said Alonso.

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In Miami Stroll climbed from 18th on the grid to finish 12th, then in Monaco he retired from the race due to crash damage.

Alonso said his team mate’s recent results “[made] the headlines very easy to be hard, but I think if you see the whole weekend even in Monaco in FP3 he was within one tenth and a half of the fastest.”

“He has provided the right feedback, info and strategy about everything,” Alonso added. “So I really hope for him that he has a little more luck because I don’t think that he’s missing any pace. It’s just opportunistic moments that were not in his side.”

Stroll is hoping to put his recent run of misfortune behind him this weekend.

“It’s luck, things happen in racing and we had some tough weekends,” he said. “We had a retirement in Jeddah and I think we were having a strong weekend last weekend and then some damage in Q2 kind of cost us an opportunity for good points on Sunday. And Monaco is all about Saturday, really.

“So I think it’s just how it goes. There’s good weekends and bad weekends. Like every other weekend I’m just coming into this one trying to get the most out of it.”

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2023 Spanish Grand Prix

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Claire Cottingham
Claire has worked in motorsport for much of her career, covering a broad mix of championships including Formula One, Formula E, the BTCC, British...

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25 comments on “Stroll’s problem has been bad luck, not poor performance – Alonso”

  1. I wonder if he has in his contract to praise stroll 😁 it’s getting pretty awkward at this point

    1. Ahah, yes, it must be in there!

  2. Wasn’t it unbelievably rotten luck how other cars and walls kept hitting him at Monaco?

    1. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
      1st June 2023, 17:36

      Well, Perez did hit him at one point, and it also wasn’t his fault that Norris’s debris damaged his car either. I also think the situation on saturday was mostly not stroll’s fault. The damage and retirement on Sunday however was entirely down to him.

  3. Lance’s problem is that he is a good racing driver, but, he is not an F1 level driver.
    I am 100% certain that neither I nor 99.9% of the armchair experts on these forums would be able to beat him in a fair race, but he is not a great racing driver.
    Almost everyone else on the F1 grid is a great racing driver.

    Keep kissing whatever you have to kiss Fernando. You have finally got a car that works again and a lot of people want to see you on that top step at least one more time :)

    1. And he was pretty damn close to being on the top step this season, 1 tenth from pole and 1 wrong call from jumping verstappen (though I’d call that more like crystal ball luck than right call if they had pitted for intermediates on a track that was still mostly dry, like alonso said).

  4. Alonso, ever since you came back to F1 I find you the most entertaining driver and I wish you all the success, but you’re getting on my nerves with this, more and more. It’s unbecoming of you.
    As for Stroll Jr., he’s harming the AM brand, but that’s their problem. What’s to appreciate or like in such blatant nepotism?

    1. Yellow Baron
      1st June 2023, 18:30

      Nepotism? Lance is a good driver obviously. Sure if he was on the level of latifi etc but what’s the issue when he isn’t? Put him in a redbull I doubt he’d do much worse than Perez or gasly/albon.
      Sure he’s a bit rash and prone to mistakes but if he were purely here on favour he probably be p20

    2. What’s to appreciate or like in such blatant nepotism?

      The average Aston Martin customer might not view that with such negative connotations.

      With the exception of the discontinued Cygnet, all their cars cost about as much as a (small) house.

    3. While, of course there are better drivers that could be in Stroll’s seat, 99% of the F2 and F3 grids are all the children of the extremely wealthy and he beat all his wealthy competitors in F3 to win the F3 title. So, this is not exactly a case of like Roy Nissany being given an F1 seat.

      When it comes to nepotism and wealthy kids being given an advantage, F1 is a leader. Beyond the drivers, you’ve got Nicolas Todt as the most powerful driver agent, Alex Brundle being lined up as Martin’s replacement as an F1 commentator and so on.

    4. What Fernando is doing is brilliant actually. Even with going totally out of his way to provide support to Lance, something that he would never do for any other teammate, he is still absolutely demolishing him in every respect. Lance and Lawrence can’t say that Fernando is working to undermine him or is not supporting his teammate. It’s maybe his most brilliant political move yet. He is showing how good of a driver he is while at the same exact time showing how poor Lance is by comparison even with all the support Fernando is giving him.

      1. Tbh it’s also interesting cause if stroll is such a decent driver, then alonso must be even more impressive than he is for destroying him at that age!

        1. @esploratore1 Which he is? Alonso doesn’t need to prove the obvious. This seems more like, keeping stroll in the team would be much better for him than lets say Charles.

  5. Yellow Baron
    1st June 2023, 18:29

    Nepotism? Lance is a good driver obviously. Sure if he was on the level of latifi etc but what’s the issue when he isn’t? Put him in a redbull I doubt he’d do much worse than Perez or gasly/albon.
    Sure he’s a bit rash and prone to mistakes but if he were purely here on favour he probably be p20

    1. So Stroll improved a lot since Perez ran laps around him during their seasons as team mates, then?

    2. Stroll has had more good luck than bad this season. In Australia he beached himself in the gravel all by himself on the second last restart and would have had another no score, but was saved by the red flag which reset the positions and allowed him to recover P4. In Baku he hit the wall in the castle sequence in a way that could have easily broken the suspension, and usually did when other drivers hit it, but he got away with it and finished P7. His issues in Miami and Monaco were mostly self inflicted. He could easily have only 9 points this season.

  6. Stroll is getting overly brutalized. Not a fan, but a quick overview of his season shows he been solid:

    -Bahrain: 6th (good performance considering he could barely hold onto his steering wheel)

    -Jeddah: on course for a 4th or 5th place before mechanical failure (good performance)

    -Australia: 4th place (good performance)

    -Baku: 7th (solid, if unspectacular)

    -Miami: 12th (the poor result was partly due to a bad call by the team, but he didn’t do himself any favors. So, let’s call it a bad drive)

    -Monaco:’very poor

    So, good, good, good, solid, poor, poor. Not exactly a slam dunk case against him.

    1. has been solid*

    2. Even then, Monaco he missed Q3 cause of debris from Norris crashing. Though I’m just happy that someone sees the true picture and doesn’t just criticise him blindly. Thank you sir.

  7. Lance Stroll might be a good driver, problem is he is not a good racer. The finish first you first must finish, is not a lesson learned by being just a good driver. It is a lesson learned by being a good racer with spacial awareness where to put the car in relation to what others are doing.

  8. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lawrence sabotages his daughters marriage next and asks Fernando to marry her so he can claim the son he always wanted.

    1. Ahah!

  9. New box for F1 Bingo. Alonso praises Stroll

  10. The others for 2023 season

    Ferrari telling they can win
    Perez still in fight for championship
    Where did Alfa’s pace go?
    Alonso’s gardening
    Red Bull can’t win all races
    Alonso podium
    Home race for Sargeant
    Spot Ricciardo

  11. Very kind words from Alonso….if stroll snr is intent on a World Champ and Constructors titles…it will not be with his son..Alonso cannot score enough points on his own for constructors…needs to make Lance reserve and bring in a name say Vettel for the rest of this season..with Perez spluttering you never know….

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