Fernando Alonso has admitted that he was pleasantly “surprised” by the “commitment and levels of motivation” Lance Stroll showed during the 2023 Formula 1 season.
Alonso capitalised on Aston Martin’s early resurgence to claim eight podiums and conclude his debut year with the team classified fourth in the Drivers’ standings.
Despite breaking both wrists in an accident on the eve of testing, Stroll also began the campaign encouragingly with fifth in Bahrain before improving to fourth place in Australia.
However, the Canadian was unable to build on that momentum as Aston Martin’s competitiveness started to fall away, ending up a sizeable 132 points behind Alonso.
But after enduring a torrid run of six straight Q1 exits, Stroll rebounded impressively with successive fifth-place finishes in both Brazil, having qualified third, and Las Vegas.
Alonso has commended his team-mate’s “dedication” to reversing his mid-season slump, conceding that Stroll’s application shocked him in their debut season together.
“It has been very good,” the Spaniard reflected when asked about the relationship with Stroll prior to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
“I think we have a very unique relationship, I think in any team that I was working for and any team that I know in the current paddock.
“We talk a lot, we are in contact every week on the telephone, at the factory, at the races, and we try to make sure that we are following the same direction, and we share many things.
“He’s been through some difficulties this year, the car was just changing the behaviour a little bit and he was just struggling a little bit more than me. Now we fixed few things in the car and he’s back to the top form. It was impressive to see his dedication and his motivation in the highs and in the lows.
“At the beginning of the year with the broken hand. And then midway through the season with some difficulties, he was so determined to put things back in place again and eventually he did, after I think Mexico and then the race in Brazil, the race in Vegas.
“This was a surprise to me, to be honest, the level of commitment and the level of motivation that he has, so this is only good news and good things for the team.”
Although Alonso returned to the podium for only the second time since July at the penultimate round in Brazil and Stroll added 22 points across the final three events, Aston Martin was unable to overturn its deficit to McLaren for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship, missing out by 22 points.
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