Fernando Alonso says that Lance Stroll’s absence from Aston Martin at pre-season testing is hurting the team due to his inability to provide car feedback.
Stroll was forced to skip testing at the Bahrain International Circuit after he was involved in a biking accident in Spain while training for the new campaign.
Alonso has joined Aston Martin for the 2023 campaign and although he stands as the most tenured driver in Formula 1 history, he is new to the Silverstone-based squad’s operating methods.
Aston Martin called up Felipe Drugovich to replace Stroll for the test, handing the rookie valuable time behind the wheel of the AMR23.
As Stroll has vast experience with the team, having joined it in 2019 when it ran under the Racing Point guise, his feedback and communication ability with the team will prove valuable as it develops the car this year.
But his unavailability during the three days of pre-season running is leaving Aston Martin slightly impaired, according to Alonso.
“It hurt a lot,” he said. “I think we miss him because some of my comments and feelings with the car, we never know if it’s just me in a new team and a new car.
“Was [it] just maybe an Aston Martin thing that Lance could spot it? Brake pedal feeling, power steering, I don’t know if these are a legacy thing with the team or new in this car.
“So we cannot do it without him. So I hope he can come [back] very soon.”
Aston Martin has not yet committed to Stroll for the season-opening race as it waits to hear news of his condition.
Despite the setback, the green-liveried team has been tipped to be a major player in the midfield battle this year as its car attracted positive attention in Bahrain.
“It was very important and very nice week for us, finally, with the new car we did a filming day at Silverstone but that never feels enough because there are only eight laps I think that we did there,” Alonso said.
“And yeah, obviously it is now go-time, we need to make the car as fast as possible for next week, race one.
“But we feel like there is a lot more to come from the car that we didn’t have time yet in testing – only three days – but step by step the team is working flat out.
“The car felt good all three days, we’ve been experimenting a little bit with very different routes on set-ups, and we found always positives on these new routes, so there is a clear indication that we need to change philosophy in many things on this car compared to last year’s car.
“And that obviously is a concern in a way because we will need a couple of races to optimise the package.”
