Fernando Alonso says the help he gets from his team mate is vital to ensure Aston Martin get the most out of their car.
Lance Stroll lagged far behind Alonso in the championship last year, scoring 74 points to his team mate’s 206. The opening races of this season indicated the gap in performance between the two has changed little this year.However Alonso, who recently extended his contract to drive for the team owned by Stroll’s father, said he relies heavily on Stroll’s input on car set-up.
“Lance and myself, we are trying to help the team as much as we can,” he said. “I think we have two different driving styles in some conditions, we have two different feelings with the car.
“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 [insensitive] to things sometimes and this is not a good thing. I think we are both trying to help Aston as much as we can and I think the direction that we develop the car and we finalise normally the set-ups on a weekend is 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 is F1’s most experienced driver of all time. He said he relies on his ability to cope with problems in his car but doesn’t always find the best way to solve them through set-up changes.
“Sometimes I drive the car around the problems that we have and that’s sometimes a good thing because I can drive any car, any moment and extract 90% of it.
“But to reach 100% of the potential of the car, sometimes I’m not able to do 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 it’s a good thing at the moment.”
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MacLeod (@macleod)
18th April 2024, 8:22
So because Lance can’t drive the car helps Alonso to get more out of the car. I noticed the last 10% to improve the car he needs the input of other drivers.
You can beter have two drivers who try both the get the best from the car.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
18th April 2024, 8:29
LOL
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
18th April 2024, 8:32
He makes it sound like Stroll is the Pedrosa of F1… a very constant performer with vast knowledge of setup and specially sensitive to the car and track conditions.
Kudos to Alonso, tho. He’s doing what’s probably written in his contract: talk up Lance.
Dex
18th April 2024, 10:37
I’m pretty sure that’s in his verbal contract with papa Stroll. It was unbearable last year, so far this season it seemed to be a bit less prominent, but perhaps that was just a part of Alonso’s contract negotiation technique (pay me more and I may re-sign that verbal contract too).
I’m not sure if the idea was to create parody, because that’s how it usually sounds; like patronizing with a strong sarcastic undertone.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
18th April 2024, 11:25
Ahah, indeed, it feels like a parody to me too.
Riccard
18th April 2024, 8:39
It clearly helps to have a second driver in the team to collect data and bounce ideas off, so I’m sure having Stroll in the same car has genuinely helped Alonso.
It’s just that any other decent driver in the seat would also do the same.
Still – even though I wish Aston would replace Stroll, and even though there’s an agenda behind the comments – I have no issue with people choosing to say true and kind things about other people.
Sven
18th April 2024, 9:30
Alonso does not want Sainz there.
Deerhunter
18th April 2024, 10:08
I remember there was this deep dive on how Alonso’s driving style has changed throughout the different regulations/eras. Think it was on F1Metrics when they were still active.
Yeah, his incredible consistency has always been one of Alonso’s strength, but it does corroborate to what he’s saying here in that he has a tendency of driving around the limitations of the car.
Whether his conclusion on how this somehow makes Stroll’s input is indispensable to the team is valid is another matter entirely, however.
BasCB (@bascb)
18th April 2024, 14:20
It does somewhat make sense, yeah. When the engineers look at Alonso being able to extract a lot from the car, maybe they overlook some of the things where the car is weak but Alonso is able to cope with his huge talent and experience, while looking at Stroll the deficiencies show up far more clearly.
And off course it is presented in a way here that their boss will be happy about after signing Alonso for another few years for a nice amount of money.
Dex
18th April 2024, 10:30
Of course this is just some PR nonsense, but if I had to translate it (and pretend even this little encouragement for Stroll is honest), it would translate as: If we can make a car that even that sensitive, little Stroll can drive relatively well, I can fight at the top.
But it rarely worked like that with previous championship winning cars. The latest Mercedes winning cars maybe, definitely not recent Red Bulls or most of Schumacher’s winning Ferraris and Benettons; as far as I can understand. Hm I’d like to see Stroll in one of those snappy cars. Maybe he should replace Perez, for fun, even if this year RB seems a bit easier to drive than the previous car.
Mog
18th April 2024, 10:56
So Alonso is paid to pump up Strolls tires?
Nick T.
18th April 2024, 13:19
More like, it’s one place he can say something positive about Stroll without there being any data to prove it’s a lie. The kind of thing almost every F1 driver with a struggling teammate has said over the years. From Hamilton saying Bottas was his favorite/best teammate to Leclerc being diplomatic about Vettel during his struggles and saying things like “wow, what a professional. I’ve learned so much from him.”
Palindnilap (@palindnilap)
18th April 2024, 13:56
On top of it, that guy makes the best coffee ever. Honestly.
Gimi
18th April 2024, 14:43
Without Lance he can only get 90% of the contract signed, but with Lance it’s 100%.
Dick Dawson
18th April 2024, 18:21
Pappa Stroll must be paying him by the word to say this crap.
Edvaldo
18th April 2024, 18:48
He probably gets some extra motivation to perform being 42 and beating the hell out of a 25 year old. That’s how Stroll helps him.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
18th April 2024, 23:08
I am starting to feel bad for Alonso, actually.
Hibbie
19th April 2024, 15:53
Must be in Alonso’s contract, too talk up Lance.