Inside Line: Unabated destruction of Stroll by Alonso is alarming
F1 NewsWednesday, 31 May 2023 at 10:50
The glaring destruction of Lance Stroll by Fernando Alonso is alarming, with a great Aston Martin race car in their hands, the Spanish veteran is making the most of it while the 24-year-old Canadian offers a strong case for those who believe he should not be in Formula 1.
So far this season, no driver is getting beaten so comprehensively by their teammate, after six rounds - the latest being last Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix - the score is: Alonso-6 versus Stroll-0 in qualifying and in the race too. Consider the stats below:
2023 F1 Teammates Qualifying Comparison
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso 6 - 0 Lance Stroll
Williams: Alex Albon 6 - 0 Logan Sargeant
AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda 5 - 1 Nyck de Vries
McLaren: Lando Norris 5 - 1 Oscar Pastri
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc 4 - 2 Carlos Sainz
Mercedes: George Russell 4 - 2 Lewis Hamilton
Max Verstappen 4 - 2 Sergio Perez
Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas 4 - 2 Zhou Guanyu
Haas: Nico Hulkenberg 4 -2 Kevin Magnussen
Alpine: Esteban Ocon 4 - 2 Pierre Gasly
Williams: Alex Albon 6 - 0 Logan Sargeant
AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda 5 - 1 Nyck de Vries
McLaren: Lando Norris 5 - 1 Oscar Pastri
Ferrari: Charles Leclerc 4 - 2 Carlos Sainz
Mercedes: George Russell 4 - 2 Lewis Hamilton
Max Verstappen 4 - 2 Sergio Perez
Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas 4 - 2 Zhou Guanyu
Haas: Nico Hulkenberg 4 -2 Kevin Magnussen
Alpine: Esteban Ocon 4 - 2 Pierre Gasly
2023 F1 Teammates Race Comparison
Aston Martin: Fernando Alonso 6 - 0 Lance Stroll
Williams: Alex Albon 5 - 1 Logan Sargeant
AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda 5 - 1 Nyck de Vries
McLaren: Lando Norris 5 - 1 Oscar Piastri
Red Bull: Max Verstappen 4 - 2 Sergio Perez
Ferrari: Carlos Sainz 4 - 2 Charles Leclerc
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton 4 - 2 George Russell
Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas 4 - 2 Zhou Guanyu
Haas: Kevin Magnussen 4 - 2 Nico Hulkenberg
Alpine: Esteban Ocon 3 - 3 Pierre Gasly
Williams: Alex Albon 5 - 1 Logan Sargeant
AlphaTauri: Yuki Tsunoda 5 - 1 Nyck de Vries
McLaren: Lando Norris 5 - 1 Oscar Piastri
Red Bull: Max Verstappen 4 - 2 Sergio Perez
Ferrari: Carlos Sainz 4 - 2 Charles Leclerc
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton 4 - 2 George Russell
Alfa Romeo: Valtteri Bottas 4 - 2 Zhou Guanyu
Haas: Kevin Magnussen 4 - 2 Nico Hulkenberg
Alpine: Esteban Ocon 3 - 3 Pierre Gasly
Even the 2023 F1 rookies are performing better than Stroll relative to their teammates
While Stroll is the worst performer among the respective teammates, it's notable that the three rookies are also being shown up by their respective partners. Logan Sargeant at Williams is being well and truly out-played by Alex Albon. While Oscar Piastri and Nyck de Vries are down 1-5 on their teammates, but none on a 6-0 quali and 6-0 race drubbing.
It's understandable that rookies are finding it tough, after all, they are half a dozen races into their F1 careers, while Stroll will be making his 129th F1 start when he lines up on the grid for the 2023 Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday.
F1 stats don't change, even if you rain down the excuses on why Stroll is being destroyed by Alonso. Yes destroyed, because no other driver is being so brutally exposed by their respective teammate as the Aston Martin driver is right now.
There was a school of thought, [this author included] who believe(d) that Stroll in a good car can be very good. He is no slouch as he proved by putting the Racing Point on pole, during wet qualifying for the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix. And he does have three F1 podium finishes on his CV.
But it hardly seems so. While Stroll looked ordinary alongside four times F1 World Champion turned environmental activist - Sebastian Vettel on his farewell tour - Alonso is proving to be a different kettle of fish, and a proper benchmark that clearly has young Stroll flustered, out of his depth and with no apparent way out despite 'coaching' from the veteran Spaniard.
Alonso has proved this season that the Aston Martin AMR23 in his hands is the second-best car on the F1 grid, only bettered by the dominant Red Bull RB19.
Again the stats don't lie and their implications are stark: Fernando lies third in the 2023 F1 drivers' standings on 93 points thanks to five podiums in six races; his latest a marvellous second place at Monaco; Stroll in contrast has 27 points after six rounds.
Alonso's haul of points is the reason why Aston Martin are second in the 2023 F1 Construtors' standings ahead of Barcelona.
Fernando's Monaco podium and Lance's poor show is a harsh reality check
Why stark? Simply because the team that billionaire Lawrence Stroll built for his son Lance to become a Grand Prix winner and eventually F1 World Champ is now a contender, if young Stroll is not up to the task when will his Dad throw in the towel?
The reality is that with the best car, he has had in F1, Lance is letting the few that believe, including his Father, down big time. One could argue he is not improving, that he peaked in 2020.
Also, too many silly mistakes by Stroll, and collisions with rivals including a huge moment with Alonso last year at COTA (before they were teammates) but this season there have also been too many near misses.
Monaco this past weekend was a prime example, where Stroll was thoroughly outpaced and outclassed by Alonso. His errors seemed to attract 'bad luck' and then in the race, he was simply wayward, too ambitious into the Hairpin on Lap 1 when patience might have served him better so early in the race, in a car with podium potential.
Talk about a bittersweet Sunday for AMR, at the end of the afternoon, Alonso was celebrating another incredible podium for them, while Lance, the owner's son skulked away, angry, blanking everyone he could as he contemplated his reality, perhaps sitting down later with his Father and admitting he is not good enough for F1.
Granted that won't happen! But it is fair to say: if Lance was not driving for Dad, but instead for Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari, he would not be in a race seat after his shenanigans and outright lack of pace this season. Begging the question: Is Lance good enough for F1? If not, when and how will he be replaced?
Right now there is nowhere for the Rich Kid to hide. So what now Dad?
In closing, Stroll's reported from Monaco: "In all honesty, this wasn’t a race to remember. The first lap was pretty eventful – a lot of crashing; a lot of carbon fibre flying everywhere! Those clashes left the car with a fair amount of damage but I was still able to have a go at some of the cars in front.
"I pulled off a couple of passes, which was fun. But I was struggling a little to get the car slowed down even before the rain; then when it started raining the brake issues meant I just couldn’t stop the car. I think I hit the wall about five times out there, but it just wasn’t my day.
"Congratulations to Fernando for an excellent result – I’ll be aiming for a points finish at Barcelona next weekend. I’m already looking forward to Spain," concluded Stroll.
An apology to the team, for the effort to fix all the stuff he breaks and broke while providing a podium car, it would have been classy from Stroll junior to accept responsibility for his abysmal form and say "Sorry and thank you for a great car."
But then, I don't know, do billionaire Kids - like Lance - ever apologise and/or thank the servants?
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