‘Fighter’ Lance Stroll backed to silence critics as F1 scrutiny continues

Thomas Maher 16 Aug 2023 7:30 PM

Lance Stroll, Aston Martin driver, in the F1 paddock at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Lance Stroll may not be reaching the highs Fernando Alonso is achieving, but his team boss is still plenty impressed.

Fernando Alonso has scored multiple podiums during the first 12 races of the season, with the Spaniard scoring four third-places from the first five races, and two second-places in Monaco and Canada.

Lance Stroll, in the second Aston Martin, has had a much more low-key season, with fourth place in Australia being his high points so far. But, despite this, team boss Mike Krack has highlighted the strength of the Canadian’s season.

Mike Krack full of praise for struggling Lance Stroll

With Stroll coming into the season under a cloud following a cycling accident that resulted in fractured wrists and surgeries which prevented him from taking part in pre-season testing, Krack paid tribute to Stroll’s mental strength.

Asked about the high points of the season inAston Martin’s mid-season review, Krack spoke glowingly about both of his drivers.

“It’s not necessarily the podiums,” he said, when asked about his team’s high points.

“For me, Lance’s comeback from injury and Fernando’s special approach in Monaco are what stand out.

“Lance showed what a fighter he is when he jumped back in the car with broken wrists and a broken toe. The heart it took to do that lifted everyone and got us going in a really positive frame of mind.

“Lance hasn’t had a lot of luck this year: aside from his broken bones, a few things have gone against him that really weren’t his fault. The championship table tells a story, but inside the team, we know what really happens.”

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Mike Krack explains recent Aston Martin struggles

With Aston scoring podium after podium in the first third of the season, the Silverstone-based squad have slipped back to the midfield in recent races.

With teams like McLaren taking a huge step forward, Krack attempted to dissect what’s gone wrong as Aston Martin have struggled to trouble the higher points positions.

“我们已经失去了少量competit相比ors and as an engineer, that makes you disappointed,” he said.

“But it’s the qualifying and finishing positions that give the perception that we’ve dropped back massively when, in reality, we haven’t. Our competitors have just improved more than us and jumped into that gap between us and Red Bull.

“We’re constantly pushing the development, and these cars are so complex that any change will impact other areas of the car – there are side effects. Very few changes you make to the car work in isolation. We made a change earlier in the season and didn’t anticipate it having some of the side effects that it did. It wasn’t until after several races at different types of circuits that we realised how it was influencing the car.

“The upgrades we have put on the car have worked, and the numbers are where they should be – but I think the results over the last few races are representative of where we are.

“Events like Monaco and Canada were outliers – they masked the weaknesses – and because we did well in those events, expectations ramped up only for the disappointment to be bigger at Barcelona, Austria, Silverstone, and Budapest when we couldn’t achieve such top results.”