F1 News: Fernando Alonso’s Giant Impact on Lance Stroll’s Unexpected Success Gets Recognition From Boss Mike Krack

Aston Martin came out swinging in 2023. Surprising everyone in the wake of their pre-season testing performance, they were clearly the second fastest car behind Red Bull. With Fernando Alonso behind the wheel of AMR23, the team had high hopes for a stellar season. While the team did score multiple podiums with Alonso in the opening lot of the races, the development of the car, unfortunately, took the team in the wrong direction as other teams also started catching them. However, according to Mike Krack, Alonso’s ability to deal with unfortunate situations not only helped the team come back, it also hugely benefited Lance Stroll, who was struggling quite a lot in mid-season.

Going up against a 2-time world champion is a tough bet on its own. Couple that with a broken wrist and the declining pace of the car during the mid-season, there’s no surprise that Lance Stroll struggled to deliver strong performances on the level of Fernando Alonso. However, Alonso has a very healthy relationship with Stroll, and that helped the Canadian turn his season around in the closing stages of the 2023 season.

Watching Fernando Alonso helped Lance Stroll according to Mike Krack

While Lance Stroll suffered to come to terms with the declining pace of the AMR23, Fernando Alonso managed to score points in all but 3 races in the season, two of which were DNFs. He scored 11 top 5 finishes throughout the season while Stroll only managed 3 of those.

However, it was the healthy relationship between the two teammates that eventually helped Stroll overcome his struggles as the season came to a close. 2 out of the 3 top-5 finishes came for Stroll in the final 3 races in Brazil and Las Vegas. According to Aston Martin’s team principal, Stroll not only managed to overcome the extra pressure created by the criticism from fans and media, but he also picked up a few things from his more experienced teammate to help him understand the car better.

According to a recent report from Motorsport, Mike Krack said, “Like the team, Lance has learned a lot from Fernando. And I also think how to handle difficult situations, you always look at what your teammate is doing, how they’re behaving, or how they’re handling themselves. We’ve all learned a lot there, not trying to make things up, but really sticking to our data, sticking to the analytics and moving forward from there.”

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Aston Martin will be hoping to start the 2024 season on a similar note as they did in 2023 while hoping to close the gap to the Red Bulls. They might just be able to do that if you go by Fernando Alonso’s judgment.

Alonso predicts a much better 2024 season

Fernando Alonso is back at the factory with simulator duties to prep the 2024 car. In a recent YouTube Short on Aston Martin’s official channel, Alonso shed light on the team’s operation and the significance of his work in the simulator, stressing the precision required in his inputs to mimic real car feedback and he had some good news to share. According to the 2-time world champion, the 2024 challenger looks promising.

In the YouTube short, Fernando Alonso said, “First day back in the car, back in the factory. Hyperfocus means total dedication to what you do. To be united now, to also send a message to everyone that we’re here to work 24 hours, 7 days a week, and ready for the new season. Everyone is doing 100%. 2023 has been an incredible season and 2024 is going to be even better.“

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Do you think Aston Martin will be the second-fastest car yet again at the start of the new season? Share your insights down below in the comments.