Stroll’s Woe
Second Driver Struggles
Last season, Stroll was crushed by Alonso and, at times, was in such an obvious state of stress it was uncomfortable to watch. He’s not a Mazepin-style idiot but right now the Canadian driver looks to be getting worse rather than better.
Alonso’s Season So Far
While Alonso hasn’t racked up the podium finishes he enjoyed in 2023 that’s down to the car not him. In race trim he’s been consistent, and has the mathematically pleasing stat of having finished once in each of the positions from 5th to 9th.
This makes him highly consistent in a car widely considered to be the fifth fastest on the grid (all else being equal this should give him an average position of 9th or 10th rather than the 7th it currently is).
In short, the elderly Spaniard is both reliable and punching above the car’s weight.
When it comes to the team, Aston Martin is in the 5th place it would seem to belong. Way ahead of the backmarkers but not quite on the same level as Mercedes, let alone McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull. Aston Martin has 40 points to Mercedes 52. However, 31 of those points come from Alonso. If the team had an Alonso clone in the second seat, they’d likely be giving Mercedes a run for their money.
But instead of Alonso Mark II, they have Stroll.
Stroll’s Season So Far
The initial race result for Stroll was pretty good, 10th in Bahrain having started 12th. In the same race, Alonso dropped from 6th to 9th and the two Aston Martins finished consecutively.
The third race, Australia, was his best result, finishing in 6th place. This is also the only time he finished in the 5th to 9th window that covers all of Alonso’s results. While there were two DNFs here which helped, Stroll finished two places ahead of his team mate and had qualified one place ahead of him as well.
This concludes the good part of Lance Stroll’s season, as yet.
In Saudi Arabia (race two) he had a DNF after introducing his car to the barriers, bringing out the safety car. At the two most recent races (Japan and China) Stroll finished pointlessly, in 12th and 15th respectively. At the same time, Alonso was 6th and 7th.
The likes of Tsunoda and Hulkenberg must be grateful the second Aston Martin has only entered the points in 40% of the races so far, versus the 100% of the first driver. This has enabled these smaller teams to have little victories here and there, and rise above the likes of Williams, Alpine, and Sauber.
Is it Psychological?
Stroll has had some decent results during his career, such as a podium in Azerbaijan and pole in Turkey in 2020. While not a Verstappen he seemed a perfectly decent driver. And in 2022 and 2021 he finished behind Vettel (a four time champion) but not by huge amounts (19 and 9 points respectively).
However, against Alonso in 2023, Stroll was made to look very ordinary. The Spaniard, the oldest man on the grid, scored 206 points. Stroll got 74. This is more than the Hamilton-Kovalainen 2008 split of 98 (and world champion) to 53 points. It’s embarrassingly enormous as gaps go. Alonso had eight podium finishes, Stroll had none.
Why so poor when he had been relatively good with four time champion Vettel? Partly, this is because Vettel lost a little pace as he aged and Alonso appears to be a T-1000. Even now, he’s an amazing driver (and I think Mercedes missed a trick not signing him up). But there’s something else at play.
Remember 2012
The 2012 season might be the most remarkable I can remember. Alonso was nigh on perfect, at the height of his powers. That Ferrari should not have been in the fight with Vettel for the title. The reason it was is that Alonso is one of very few drivers that can drag a car beyond what it should be capable of.
He ended up runner-up (thanks to DNFs which were not his fault — remember Grosjean at Spa) with 278 points. Massa, his team mate, had 122 points. Ok, Fernando was faster than him, but even allowing for that the gulf is huge and Massa is not a bad driver.
Come 2023, what we had was an Aston Martin that was briefly the best of the rest, a Spaniard who has decided ageing is a thing that happens to other people, and a window of opportunity to grab half a dozen or more podium results. On the other side of the garage, we have Lance Stroll.
He’s an ok driver. Mostly. But that isn’t good enough when you’ve got Alonso in the other seat. Short of tattooing “Daddy owns the team” on his forehead it couldn’t be any starker.
If Lawrence Stroll didn’t have the team, would his son have a seat? On performance, would you prefer Stroll Junior, or Sainz? Or Tsunoda, Piastri, Bearman, Hulkenberg, or Gasly?
Pressure Tells
Some drivers can handle pressure very well. Hamilton has done it on numerous occasions, as has Verstappen. Stroll has signally failed here. Whether it’s losing concentration and needlessly ramming a wall for a DNF or shrieking over the radio in Japan about slow pace (when his team mate was 6th), 2024 is looking like it might be a repeat of last season when it comes to Stroll losing to Alonso by a huge margin.
Worst of all was in the last race, when (under the safety car) Stroll just rolled right into the back of Ricciardo. It was clownish.
Can he turn this around?
While never seen as a Verstappen or Alonso type, Stroll has put in some good performances. But I don’t think he has it in him to improve sufficiently. The raw pace difference is big enough it seems to cause him severe stress, and that just hinders him even more. And all the time he knows his father owns the team and everyone else knows that too, which can only add to the pressure.
Stroll should be tipped overboard. Aston Martin is good enough to have a better second driver. And there are lots out there. They could even go for a second Spaniard, if Sainz doesn’t end up at Mercedes (or Red Bull).
Richard
