Lance Stroll is in desperate need of a strong result at the Spanish Grand Prix, with the Canadian having languished almost a second behind team-mate Fernando Alonso on Friday.
Stroll has endured a disappointing start to the 2023 Formula 1 season, to the extent where many are beginning to wonder whether he’s holding Aston Martin behind.
Whilst Alonso has claimed five podiums from the opening six races, Stroll’s best result this year is fourth at the Australian Grand Prix.
As a result, Alonso sits third in the Drivers’ Championship whilst Stroll is down in eighth, 66 points behind his team-mate.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
As it stands, Aston Martin are second in the Drivers’ Championship; however, the general expectation is that Mercedes and Ferrari will eventually overtake the Silverstone-based team, should Alonso continue to fight them alone.
Despite Stroll’s struggles, Alonso has actually defended the Canadian ahead of this weekend’s Spanish GP, with the 41-year-old admitting that he’s not “missing any pace”.
“He has been very unlucky the last two events,” said Alonso, as reported by PlanetF1.com.
“If we go back to Bahrain, driving with one hand [after breaking his wrist in a pre-season cycling crash] he was very fast. Then Jeddah he had the exhaust problem when he was in front of the Ferraris in P5.
“Then in Miami we were risking too much probably in Q1 and that compromised the race. And in Monaco the debris from Lando’s car, the McLaren, completely compromised the whole weekend.
“Obviously this put the headlines, very easy to be hard on that.
“I think if you see the whole weekend even in Monaco in FP3 he was within one tenth and a half of the fastest. He has provided the right feedback, info and strategy about everything.
“So I really hope for him that he has a little more luck because I don’t think that he’s missing any pace. It’s just opportunistic moments that were not in his side.”
Despite Alonso’s defence of his team-mate, Stroll is clearly lacking pace at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with him having finished Free Practice 2 in 18th.
READ: Fernando Alonso eagerly defends the boss’ son after embarrassing him
Alonso on the other hand, ended the opening day in second, just under two-tenths behind Max Verstappen.
Somewhat embarrassingly for Stroll, a graphic was shown during FP2 highlighting who was the most dominant Aston Martin driver at each corner.
The graphic showed that Stroll was slower than Alonso at every single corner, adding to the Canadian’s woes.