De la Rosa Defends Stroll Rejects Alonso/Sainz Duo

Amid rumors of a possible Alonso/Sainz pairing, Pedro de la Rosa staunchly supports Lance Stroll’s retention at Aston Martin F1.

Former Formula 1 driver Pedro de la Rosa, ambassador for Aston Martin F1, believes there is no reason for Lance Stroll to leave the team as he forms a “strong” duo with Fernando Alonso.

Stroll has had a difficult start to the season and failed to progress from Q1 at the last round in Japan while Alonso managed to secure fifth place on the grid.

The Canadian has collected nine points in the first four rounds, compared to 24 for Alonso, with Aston Martin fifth in the constructors’ standings.

Despite criticism of his overall results in recent seasons, Stroll’s position has been protected due to his father’s presence as the team owner since mid-2018.

However, Carlos Sainz’s availability in the transfer market leads some to say that Aston Martin F1 should not miss this opportunity and could consider a 100% Spanish duo.

“The idea that Carlos would replace Fernando, I’m not sure Carlos himself envisioned it before Fernando extended. I think Pedro (de la Rosa) is the person who will correct me on this, but perhaps Lance, if he decides to go to WEC, play tennis or something like that, would allow having two Spanish drivers who would make a very strong team,” says Damon Hill, 1996 champion to De la Rosa.

But De la Rosa has defended Stroll, under fire from critics, arguing there have been occasions where he has outperformed Alonso.

“Why should Lance not continue? I mean, there are all the reasons to continue in the team with all the projects and that’s why Fernando decided to stay.”

“Lance had two incredible races in Jeddah and Australia where he was faster than Fernando at certain points of the race. So why wouldn’t you want to continue with him?”

“If you could see what’s happening behind the scenes at the factory with the new wind tunnel, with people joining the team, we are building an incredible team here for the future.”

As Alonso commits his future to Aston Martin for several years, de la Rosa is convinced it would be a bad decision to disrupt the balance within the team with the arrival of Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard even claims that Stroll makes for the strongest possible duo!

“I also think that changes in driver pairings are bad in Formula 1 if you have a solid duo. And I simply believe that the way we should continue is just to keep our drivers, because it’s the strongest team we could have.”

Mike Krack, director of Aston Martin F1, however, left no doubt this Thursday in China: Lance Stroll is “at home” and the boss’s son is here to stay in his place (read here).