Aston Martin star Lance Stroll only receives ‘nice’ comments from two people in Formula 1

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Aston Martin will be going into the Formula 1 summer break frustrated that they haven’t been able to kick on from a very positive 2023 season.

Fernando Alonso’s arrival at Aston Martin from Alpine coincided with the British outfit briefly being the second-fastest team on the grid.

The Spaniard ended up securing eight podium finishes during his first campaign with Aston Martin but their form quickly tailed off as the season progressed.

However, even when Aston Martin had one of the fastest cars in the paddock, Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll was unable to match his results.

It’s a tough comparison for the Canadian driver considering Alonso’s vast experience in F1 as a double world champion.

His father Lawrence Stroll is the executive chairman of Aston Martin and has been involved in all of the F1 teams that he’s driven for in the past.

This has had an impact on his reputation within the sport, particularly when he’s compared to his much more successful teammate.

Journalist Glenn Freeman was speaking on The Race Extra Podcast about the reception he gets within Formula 1.

Stroll is held to account for his performances to a much higher degree by some people who believe he’s potentially only on the grid due to his connections.

That’s a harsh assessment given there was a period of this season when he was outperforming Alonso both in qualifying and the races themselves.

However, Freeman admits that the only people who ever say good things about Stroll are his teammate Alonso and team principal Mike Krack.

Both Alonso and Krack see Stroll’s work up close on a daily basis and will know exactly how close he is to extracting the full potential out of the AMR24.

Unfortunately for the Canadian, he needs to produce a couple of exceptional performances to start receiving more positive press from outside the team.

READ MORE: Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Fernando Alonso and Mike Krack are Lance Stroll’s biggest fans

Talking about some of the press that drivers further down the grid receive, Freeman said: “Stroll is a special case for many reasons, it’s not sponsorship as such keeping him that seat, it’s his dad owning the team.

“But I don’t think he gets an easy ride from the outside world, if anything that puts more pressure and spotlight on him.

“Let’s face it, the only people who say nice things about Lance Stroll are Fernando Alonso and Mike Krack the team boss and that’s because they’re being paid by his dad.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Aston Martin F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Lance Stroll frustrated with Aston Martin this season after Damon Hill called him ‘daft’

Aston Martin have scored 73 points this season, significantly fewer than at this stage last year.

Alonso has more than doubled Stroll’s points tally after 14 race weekends, although Stroll has become frustrated that he’s not receiving the same updates as Alonso recently.

Aston Martin have struggled with their updates since the start of the 2023 campaign and it’s one of the reasons they couldn’t maintain their brilliant start to last year.

The Spaniard may be positive about Stroll generally, but that didn’t stop Alonso from making a comment about Stroll over the team radio in Hungary.

Damon Hill was unimpressed with Stroll in Spain earlier in the season too, calling him daft for an incident involving Charles Leclerc.

The Canadian deserves credit for his performances in Australia, Emilia Romagna, Silverstone and his home race in Montreal.

However, those displays aren’t anywhere near frequent enough and if Aston Martin have title ambitions in the future, it’s unclear whether he’s talented enough to live up to those expectations.