Former Williams and Ferrari team manager Peter Windsor has questioned how happy Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll is with his team’s fantastic start to the 2023 F1 season, given that it’s not his son grabbing all the headlines.
Lance Stroll has been outshone at the opening two rounds of the season by new team-mate Fernando Alonso, who was brought in from Alpine this season to replace four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who retired at the end of 2022.
Alonso has settled into Aston Martin incredibly quickly, with the Spaniard having certainly taken the team to new heights in just two races.
In just two races, he’s already claimed more podiums that Vettel did at Aston Martin and has elevated the team to second in the Constructors’ Championship.
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Whilst Aston Martin did enjoy an exceptional winter break, Alonso has extracted the utmost from the AMR23, whilst his team-mate has been amongst Ferrari and Mercedes.
Alonso has staggeringly been Red Bull’s only challenger so far this year, with the 41-year-old having claimed consecutive second place finishes.
Stroll on the other hand, finished sixth in Bahrain and retired in Saudi Arabia; however, it should be taken into consideration that he had surgery on a fractured wrist just days before the season began, something which ruled him out of pre-season testing.
Alonso has therefore been the driver leading Aston Martin up the order, with the double World Champion almost appearing like he’s Max Verstappen’s age again.
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With this in mind, Windsor has questioned whether the owner will be pleased to see Alonso performing so much better than his son, with the veteran starting to become “bigger than the team”.
“At the end [of the Saudi Arabian GP], with all the Aston Martin mechanics in green in front of the podium and Fernando being Mr Charm, Mr Charisma with the fluorescent green Aston Martin cap and smile and just looking a hundred million dollars, you had to think, ‘not sure Stroll Sr will be that happy about the way things are going at the moment’,” Windsor said on his YouTube channel.
“This is Fernando almost becoming bigger than the team and [Stroll will be thinking] what’s happening with my son? Why’s he retired? What’s going on?”