Esteban Ocon Flashbacks Help Fernando Alonso Kickstart His Relationship With Lance Stroll on the Right Foot

One of the exciting aspects of the 2023 season is going to be about Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin. Starting a new stint with a 5th different team, Alonso is keen on making an impact. Meanwhile, there has been a lot of talk about how Fernando may handle his new teammate Lance Stroll. The duo had a huge crash in the USA last year. Many touted that incident as a teaser of what the Aston duo may provide in 2023. Although, Alonso has put these theories to bed with praises for Stroll and an unreal prediction.

In an interview with Aston Martin F1, Fernando hailed Lance’s talent and the skills he has shown in F1 to date. Alonso also stated how he would be happy to see Stroll succeed with the team and become a world champion after he is done racing.

He said, “In Lance [Stroll], the team has a driver who is super-young, super-talented and has the possibility to be world champion. To see him achieve that and have played a part in that, whether that’s behind the wheel or not, will be special for me.”

Naturally, it seems unreal to hear a prediction like this from the 2-time world champion. Perhaps some flashbacks about his clashes with Esteban Ocon have stimulated Fernando for this. He would want to kickstart his relationship with Stroll on the right foot.

Nonetheless, the Spaniard cited how Stroll’s performance in Turkey in 2020 is a deterrent to his talent. He said, “He has the speed, and he has the talent. He has shown it many times, especially in wet conditions. I remember Lance’s pole position in Turkey and some of his other excellent performances in the wet; to perform at that level in difficult conditions you have to have a special feeling with the car.”

Read More: With Problematic Esteban Ocon Out of the Way, Fernando Alonso Prepares for the “Next Challenge”

Alonso is certainly determined to achieve his elusive dream of a 3rd championship. So, he ain’t letting Lance Stroll be the team’s lead challenger until he is done. So, there are possibilities of sparks between this duo, if Stroll pushes the Spaniard as he did with Sebastian Vettel.

Will Sparks Fly between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll at Aston Martin?

Many fans are eyeing this mouth-watering team dynamic in 2023. Fernando Alonso often dominates his teammates. Although, this trend changed last year as Esteban Ocon put up a strong fight against him. Despite that, the duo had several moments of collisions and tension on and off the track.

Similarly, Lance Stroll has had certain moments with his former teammate Sebastian Vettel. One of the highlighted incidents was in Brazil last year. Lance pushed Vettel onto the grass in an arguably dangerous attempt to defend his position. To top it up, the Canadian driver has already had a big crash in Austin with Fernando Alonso.

It was again a similar late move to defend against the former Alpine driver down the back straight at COTA. The resultant collision almost sent Fernando completely airborne and into the barriers. Only he knows how he survived and stayed in the race after the huge crash.

Meanwhile, Stroll’s race ended in that instant with his car badly damaged. Now, does this indicate signs of the future relationship between the Aston Martin duo? It is hard to say without watching them race together this season.

Of course, only one incident does not mean that Alonso and Stroll will collide week in and week out. We would have a better insight into the Aston duo’s dynamic after we reach the halfway mark this season.

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When Fernando Alonso joins any team, he means business. But at the same time, he does not want his team dynamic with Lance Stroll to go bad, as Alonso wishes to stay at Silverstone for the long term. Do you think Fernando can keep the relations good with Lance and pursue his championship goals?