Lance Stroll admits he needs to improve his performances heading into the Austrian Grand Prix but feels his results haven’t fully reflected his pace this season.
Aston Martin is currently third in the constructors’ championship with 154 points, of which Fernando Alonso has scored 117. Alonso’s results include six podiums while Stroll has a best finish of fourth in Australia, and after a run of 10 points from four races the Canadian says he needs to work on a number of areas now he’s recovered from his pre-season broken wrists.
“I think we started the season strong, all things considered,” Stroll said. “Bahrain, Jeddah, Melbourne I think were good, and 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, Monaco we had some damage in Q2, Barcelona we were competitive again, then in Canada we had some issues in Q2.
“I think there’s been reasons why it hasn’t been good, but in terms of outright pace, he (Alonso)’s been more on top of it than me — he’s been quicker, he’s been driving incredibly well. I don’t think I’ve, or we’ve as a team, gotten the most out of our weekends, so don’t think it’s shown, some of the true results. There’s definitely some work to do, some things to improve, Fernando’s at a very high level and I’ve got to definitely work on a few things and get better.”
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Stroll believes there are small details that have cost him in many races this year but concedes Alonso — who he describes as “the best teammate I’ve ever had” — is able to get more pace out of the car than he has so far.
“It is details, and it is circumstances. Like in Miami trying to get out of Q1 on one set, he did the same as me — he just got through by a tenth and I missed it by a tenth, I’m 17th and he’s going to Q3. Same thing in Monaco, we had floor damage, you can’t recover — you start 12th, 13th and that cost us the weekend.
“Canada was a very tricky session, but when I look at the other weekends it’s been small details, things to work on, but he’s still been quicker, for sure. So I’m definitely focused on the things I’ve got to work on, and this weekend is another opportunity to do that.”
The 24-year-old doesn’t feel his lack of pre-season testing has overly hurt his potential to get performance out of the 2023 Aston Martin, now that he is no longer feeling the effects of his broken wrists that hampered him in the opening rounds.
“I think it’s a combination of things — there’s things from the car you’re always looking for, things from me. Yeah, I missed a tremendous amount of testing at the beginning of the season, that’s always a big thing, but like, in all honesty, Fernando’s 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.
“I think he’s been doing it his whole career, been getting the most out of every car he’s gotten in; even when they weren’t winning cars he’s been able to win with them. And he’s demonstrating that again this season with this car he’s pushing to the limit and finishing pretty much behind Max (Verstappen) every race. It’s very impressive and I’m definitely motivated to push and get to that level.
“I don’t want to make excuses. There’s been days I felt great in the car and didn’t feel like I missed anything from testing, and then days where you want to try something — I don’t know, a decision to make after FP3 and before parc ferme and you don’t know what direction to go in because those are all the things you do try in testing and you learn a little bit about how the car behaves here and there.
“So yes and no; it definitely doesn’t hurt to do more laps in an F1 car but I’m feeling good in the car when the setup is working well. I don’t think I’m missing anything from testing.”