Ex-Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa believes there’s no reason for Lance Stroll to vacate Aston Martin’s line-up as he forms a “strong” pairing with Fernando Alonso.
Stroll has endured an arduous beginning to the current campaign and failed to progress from Q1 at the last round in Japan as Alonso managed to secure fifth place.
The Canadian has logged nine points from the first four rounds compared to the 24 that Alonso has accrued, as Aston Martin lies fifth in the Constructors’ standings.
Despite criticism over his outings in recent seasons, Stroll’s position has been protected due to his father’s ownership of the Silverstone-based squad since mid-2018.
However, Carlos Sainz being available amid Ferrari’s decision to sign Lewis Hamilton has seen it be touted that Aston Martin should pursue an all-Spanish combination.
“The idea that Carlos would displace Fernando, I’m not sure if he’s got the nerve to do that,” Damon Hill told the F1 Nation podcast prior to Alonso’s contract extension.
“I think that Pedro is the person to correct me on this one, but maybe Lance, if he decides to go and play tennis or something, two Spanish drivers would be a very strong team.”
But de la Rosa, who is an ambassador at Aston Martin, has leapt to the defence of the under-fire Stroll, arguing that there have been occasions he’s outpaced Alonso.
The Spaniard also questioned the notion that Stroll could become demotivated enough to step aside when the squad is scaling up its operation to challenge the elite.
“Why should Lance not continue?” de la Rosa responded to Hill.
“I mean, there’s every reason to continue in the team with all the projects and that’s the reason why Fernando decided to stay.
“He [Stroll] has had two incredible races in Jeddah and Australia where there was some parts of the race that he was faster than Fernando.
“So I mean, come on. Why would you want to not continue racing?
“If you can see what’s going on behind the scenes in the factory with the new wind tunnel, with people joining the team, we’re generating here an incredible team for the future.”
With Alonso committing his future to Aston Martin on a multi-term basis, de la Rosa is convinced that it would be the wrong move to upset the balance within the team.
“I think also, changes on the driver line-ups are bad in Formula 1 if you have a strong line-up,” he continued.
“And I just believe that the way we should keep going is just by keeping our drivers, because that’s the strongest team we can be.”
