Fernando Alonso believes that his potential to “drive around” car problems in Formula 1 makes Lance Stroll’s feedback on car development “crucial” to Aston Martin.
Aston Martin announced last week that Alonso had signed a contract renewal to commit his future to the team heading into F1’s regulation overhaul slated for 2025.
The Spaniard is set to remain alongside Lance Stroll, who has been with the Silverstone-based squad since his father Lawrence completed his takeover in mid-2018.
However, Stroll has been criticised for his showings compared to his illustrious team-mate, with Alonso having bagged 24 of the team’s 33 points to date this season.
But Alonso has suggested that Stroll is an underrated asset to Aston Martin as the Canadian can highlight weaknesses in a more orthodox manner than he is able to.
When asked in China whether he was now convinced that Aston Martin would begin developing its AMR24 challenger towards him, Alonso retorted: “I don’t think so.
“Lance and myself, we are trying to help the team as much as we can. I think we have two different driving styles in some conditions, we have two different feelings with the car.
“I think Lance is a lot more sensitive to things than what I am, which is very important for the team.
“I think the analysis that Lance can reach and can feedback to the team is crucial to us and to improve the car.
“I’m a little bit un-sensitive [sic] to things sometimes and this is not a good thing.
“We are both trying to help Aston as much as we can and I think the direction that we develop the car and we normally finalise the set-ups on a weekend and it’s exactly the same.
“So, we arrive at the same conclusions, maybe in a different way, and I think those two different styles are just a good thing for Aston.”
Pressed to expand upon where he is less sensitive with the car compared to Stroll, Alonso said that he has tendencies to “drive the car around the problems we have”.
Although Alonso reckons that is an advantage in some regards, the two-time F1 champion has conceded that Stroll’s more natural approach complement his methods.
He added: “And that’s sometimes a good thing because I can drive any car at any moment and extract 90% of it.
“But to reach 100% of the potential of the car, sometimes I’m not able to do without the help from my team-mate on special details on the set-up or balance problems here and there.
“So, I think we benefit from each other in many different ways and this is a good thing at the moment.”
