(Motorsport-Total.com) – Aston Martin ambassador Pedro de la Rosa praises Lance Stroll in the highest terms and claims that the Canadian can be “just as fast” as his teammate Fernando Alonso, two-time Formula 1 world champion from 2005 and 2006.
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Alonso and Stroll have been driving together for Aston Martin since 2023. During this period, the now 27-year-old Stroll has lost the qualifying duel 15:89 and has also collected significantly fewer championship points with 131:335 than his teammate.
And although Alonso has now grown older and Stroll has gained more experience, the balance of power between the two has changed little. Even in 2026, the now 45-year-old Spaniard is on average three tenths of a second faster in qualifying.
In the podcast Beyond The Grid, de la Rosa nevertheless finds highly praising words for Stroll: “Lance is super fast,” says the former Formula 1 driver. “I love looking at the data because I am very data-driven. And I like to see where one driver is faster than the other. And Lance is unbeatable on many tracks, in many corners.”
“It’s not like you could say: ‘Lance is strong in fast corners and Fernando in …’ The two are very close together. Lance is extremely fast in all types of corners. It’s just that sometimes he makes mistakes or little things get in the way in qualifying. And if you don’t qualify far up front, that ultimately affects the whole weekend. That’s exactly where he lacks something.”
“Sometimes he just can’t bring everything together in qualifying. But sometimes he manages that in qualifying, and then he beats Fernando. And that is … I mean, we’re talking about Fernando Alonso here. And his race pace is also impressive. He can handle the tires very well.”
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However, there is a “if” – and not an insignificant one. Because de la Rosa makes it clear that Stroll needs a car that works as intended to keep up with his teammate: “I think Lance is a very underrated driver,” de la Rosa continues.
“If we improve the car and make it a bit more driver-friendly … I have to say that at the moment it is a very difficult car for many reasons. It’s not just about the car and the chassis, but also about the engine. We have to improve drivability – then as soon as the car works properly, he is just as fast as Fernando. There is absolutely no doubt about that.”
Lance Stroll has been racing in Formula 1 since 2017. He has so far secured one pole position and three podium finishes. He also recently set a new record that he probably would have preferred not to achieve – namely, being the first driver in Grand Prix history to have been eliminated in Q1 100 times.
He is currently under contract with Aston Martin, a team controlled on the ownership side by his father Lawrence.
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