Ex-Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya has told Lance Stroll to get out of his “comfort zone”, with the Canadian needing to take a few more risks to score some more points.
Stroll has endured a disappointing start to the 2023 F1 season despite having an exceptional car at his disposal, as proven by two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso.
Alonso has claimed five podiums for Aston Martin from the opening six races of the season, whilst Stroll’s best result is fourth in Australia.
Stroll has qualified and finished behind his veteran team-mate at every event this year, with his performance in Monaco having left fans in doubt over his talent.
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The Canadian made several mistakes at the Circuit de Monaco whilst Alonso was busy amongst the top-three, with Stroll having ultimately retired from the race.
Despite his recent woes, Montoya does believe Stroll has “come a long way”, with the Colombian noting that the reason why the 24-year-old made several errors in Monaco was because he was trying.
“Lance has come a long way and I think Fernando is going to make him a much better driver,” Montoya told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
“I’m okay with what he did. With a car as fast as he had, you can either sit in line and do nothing, or try.
“If you sit in line and do nothing, you might be lucky to get a point or two. If you go for it and it works, you look really good. And if you don’t, you missed a point or two.”
Montoya is adamant that Stroll is “very underrated” and “better than people think”, despite the fact he isn’t delivering good enough results for Aston Martin.
To become quicker, the ex-F1 star has told Stroll to continue coming out of his “comfort zone” rather than just “sit there”, with Montoya believing the Canadian needs somebody to “kick his ass” in the right direction.
“Honestly if they are not, they need to,” admitted Montoya, when asked if the team need to tell Stroll to take more risks.
“Lance has an opportunity. Lance is a lot better than people think he is and I think he’s very underrated.
“He’s a really nice guy and he’s really quiet. But I think he needs somebody on his corner to kick his ass and go ‘really buddy, you lost two-tenths here because what?’
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“He needs to come out of his comfort zone and in a way that’s going to be a couple of shunts and what he did in Monaco trying.
“I’d rather see him try than just sit there, because the next time he does it the guy knows he’s coming.
“When you are passing somebody and they know you are coming, they’ll give you the room because they know you are okay with hitting them.”