Lance Stroll admits that Fernando Alonso’s performances during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season so far proves that he will have to step up his game, with the Spaniard outscoring the Canadian by eighty points after the opening eight races.
Whereas Alonso has scored podium finishes in six of those races, Stroll has yet to better fourth place, and he has often played second fiddle to his Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team team-mate.
Stroll says that Alonso is the best team-mate he has ever had but he knows the Spaniard has been on a different level to him so far this season, and he knows what he has to do to match the two-time World Champion.
“For sure, in terms of just outright pace, he’s been more on top of it than me,” Stroll is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “He’s been quicker, and he’s been driving incredibly well.
“I don’t think we as a team have gotten the most out of our weekends. I think we haven’t shown some of our true results but there’s definitely some work to do, and some things to improve.
“Fernando has been at a very, very high level, and I’ve got to definitely work on a few things and get better.”
Stroll admits that Alonso has had the advantage even when he has had good days, and he puts this down to a few different factors. However, he believes he can fight back against the Spaniard, particularly now he is over the injuries he suffered ahead of pre-season testing.
“I think it’s a combination of things,” Stroll added. “I think things from the car you’re always looking for, and things from me. I missed a tremendous amount of testing at the beginning of the season, and that’s always a big thing.
“But honestly Fernando has just been at a really, really high level. And even when I felt like some of my best days were really good days, he’s been that little bit quicker. He’s been at a really high level.
“I think we started the season strong, all things considered in Bahrain, and then Jeddah and Melbourne, I think it was good. Then we hit a bit of a rough patch after Baku. But I know why.
“Miami was tough, because we didn’t put the second set of tires on in Q1. In Monaco, we had some [floor] damage in Q2 and Barcelona, we were competitive again. Then in Canada, we had some issues in Q2. So, I think there’s been reasons why it hasn’t been good. It is details and it’s also circumstances.
“I think things like in Miami, trying to get out of Q1 on one set. He did the same as me, he just got through by one tenth and I missed it by one tenth. And then you put on the new sets and afterwards, I’m in seventeenth and he is in Q3.
“It was the same thing in Monaco. We had floor damage, and then Monaco you cannot recover if you start twelfth/thirteenth, where we started, and that cost us the weekend. Then Canada was a very tricky session.
“But when I look at the other weekends, I think it’s been small details and things to work on. But he’s still been quicker for sure. So, I’m definitely focused on the things that I have got to work on. And this weekend is another opportunity to do that.”