Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll drive together for Aston Martin in the 2024 Formula One World Championships, competing against each other in every race.
The two drivers are completely on an opposite spectrum when it comes to experience in F1. While the 42-year-old two-time World Champion has plenty, his 25-year-old teammate from Canada still has a lot to learn.
Stroll has been part of the team since its inception in 2021 in its new era, but he was also part of the Racing Point since 2019, which was technically the same team before it was rebranded in 2021.
On the other hand, Alonso drove for Alpine in 2021 and 2022, joining the team for the 2023 season, which was the first for these two drivers as teammates.
Surprisingly for both, it was a very successful season for Aston Martin, as they managed to construct a great car, and both drivers helped to deliver consistent results, but the Spaniard showed his vast experience on the track.
Alonso outscored Stroll (206 vs. 74) and he also collected all eight of the team's podiums in the season, while finishing fourth in the World Drivers' Championships, a lot ahead tenth Stroll.
Category | Fernando Alonso | Lance Stroll |
Championship standings | 9th (70 points) | 13th (24 points) |
Grand Prix results head-to-head | 17 | 6 |
Qualifying head-to-head | 19 | 5 |
Grand Prix wins | 0 | 0 |
Pole positions | 0 | 0 |
Podiums | 0 | 0 |
Best finish | 5th (x1) | 6th (x1) |
Retirements | 1 | 3 |
Fastest laps | 2 | 0 |
Grand Prix points finishes | 14 | 6 |
Sprint head-to-head | 3 | 3 |
Sprint race wins | 0 | 0 |
Sprint qualifying head-to-head | 3 | 3 |
Sprint race podiums | 0 | 0 |
After a very successful 2023 season, no one, even Aston Martin, knew what to expect from the 2024 season. It started surprisingly well when Alonso qualified sixth, while Stroll was only 12th.
The Canadian's weekend went from bad to worse, when he got rear-ended by Nico Hulkenberg on the opening lap of the race, however, Stroll managed to put together and incredible recovery drive to finish 10th, collecting an important point and finishing only one place behind his teammate, who crossed the finish line ninth.
The second race of the season proved that Aston Martin has a very decent qualifying pace, at least in the hands of Fernando Alonso, who qualified in P4. Stroll improved his previous qualifying result but was only fast enough for P10.
The number 18 driver then had another race, which he wanted to forget as soon as possible. He crashed after hitting the wall on entry into turn 22 just after seven laps of the race and DNFed.
Aston Martin was worried about their race pace after the first Grand Prix of the season. However, the team was relieved after Alonso scored a P5, finishing ahead of George Russell, Lando Norris, and Lewis Hamilton.
The 2024 Australian Grand Prix could be considered a success for Aston Martin and for Stroll especially, as it was the first time in 2024 that he managed to finish ahead of his teammate.
Still, the Canadian driver didn't cross the finish line in front of Alonso, as the Spanish driver actually finished sixth, with his teammate right behind him.
However, Alonso was given a 20-second time penalty after a no-contact incident with George Russell on Lap 56, when he broke too early for the corner, causing the British driver to crash, according to the FIA.
As a result, he tumbled down the order to P8, with Stroll moving to place number six, two spots ahead of his teammate.
The Grand Prix in Japan brought mixed results for Aston Martin. While their more experienced driver managed to qualify in P5 and turn it into P6 and eight points in the race, Stroll struggled in the qualifying, finishing 16th, and improving only to P12 in the race.
The Chinese Grand Prix brought the first Sprint weekend of the season, and experienced Alonso benefited from that. He used wet conditions in the Sprint Shootout to his advantage, placing 3rd, while Stroll struggled, still during dry conditions, to get his Aston Martin out of SQ2.
However, their fortunes turned in the Sprint. Stroll had a solid race, but couldn't improve much, finishing only 14th, and while the Spanish driver was able to keep his Aston Martin in the third place for the vast majority of the Sprint, he collided with Carlos Sainz on Lap 16, picked up a puncture, and was forced to retire from the Sprint.
On top of that, Alonso also received a time penalty after the race and additional penalty points on his Superlicense.
That didn't distract the 42-year-old from achieving a great result in the qualifying for the Grand Prix, as he secured P3, with Stroll improving compared to Sprint Shootout, but still missing out on Q3, placing only 11th.
The race proved to be a mixed bag for both drivers. While Alonso managed to keep up with the pact of the rivals, and even set the fastest lap of the Grand Prix on his way to finishing seventh, thanks to a different strategy in the closing stages of the race, Stroll was involved in an incident, as he hit Ricciardo from behind, and after serving a 10-second penalty, finished 15th.
The Miami Grand Prix was Aston Martin's worst race weekend of the season until that point. Even though it was a sprint weekend, the British team took home only two points.
It could have been better, but both Alonso and Stroll were unlucky at the start of the sprint race and became victims of an incident caused by Hamilton, who sent a big divebomb into the first corner.
Stroll had to retire his car, and Alonso finished the sprint race with significant damage in P17. The Canadian driver out-qualified his more experienced teammate in both qualifying sessions of the weekend.
However, the Spanish matador was the one who scored those two points for Aston. He finished the race in P9, while Stroll crossed the line in P17 (not scoring points for the third consecutive weekend).
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix could have been the turning point for the British team as they introduced the biggest upgrade out of anyone on the grid (and there were many upgrade packages at Imola).
However, Aston's upgraded car didn't seem to work as desired. This upgrade didn't move the British team much closer to the top four at all.
Moreover, Alonso made two big mistakes during the weekend. First, he crashed the car in FP3, and then he almost crashed again in Qualifying.
The Spanish matador lost control of his car, went off the track, and probably damaged the floor of his car, which meant he couldn't qualify better than P19. Disappointingly, that was also the result of the double World Champion scoring on Sunday.
Lance Stroll outperformed the Spaniard in both the qualifying session and the race. He qualified in P13 and then finished the race in P9.
Monaco was the first weekend of the season when the British team didn't score a single point. Alonso summarized the weekend with the word "unlucky."
Stroll out-qualified the double World Champion and could have finished in the points. However, he tapped a wall, suffered a puncture during a crucial moment in the race, and had to make one extra pit stop, which cost him dearly. In the end, Alonso finished P11, and the 25-year-old in P13.
The Spanish matador put in a great lap during the tricky qualifying session ahead of the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix and scored a P6. His lap was 0,473 seconds faster than the one of his teammate, who qualified in P9.
Unfortunately, Aston Martin couldn't match the pace of the top teams, so there wasn't much progress to be made for the double World Champion, but he didn't lose any positions and finished where he started- in P6.
The hometown hero who started from P9 gained two positions and ultimately crossed the finish line six seconds behind Alonso in P7.
The Spanish matador outperformed his teammate in the qualifying, but it wasn't with the result that he would want to celebrate- P11. Stroll qualified in P14.
Although he wanted to perform well in front of his home crowd, Alonso just didn't have the machinery to do it. Ultimately, he finished the race in P12, two positions behind the Canadian driver in P14.
Following the slump in performance, the British team didn't come to the sprint weekend in Austria with high hopes, and ultimately, they didn't manage to score a single point in the whole weekend.
Stroll out-qualified his Spanish teammate in Sprint qualifying (P12 vs. P13), but the 42-year-old then got him back in qualifying for the Grand Prix (P17 vs. P15).
In the Sprint, Stroll gained two positions to finish in P10 (while Alonso finished in P15), but this wasn't enough to score points, as those were distributed only to the top eight drivers.
In the Grand Prix, Alonso tried to go for an alternative 3-stop strategy, which didn't pay off. He also had an incident with Zhou Guanyu as he locked up his tires and collided with the Sauber driver going into turn 3.
The Spaniard also received a penalty for this incident, and ultimately, he crossed the finish line in P18. Stroll had a smoother race but didn't have the pace to get inside the top ten and finished in P13 in the end.
In Spain and Austria, Aston Martin wasn't where they wanted to be, and where they got used to being during the 2023 season, and the British Grand Prix was once again a race, in which they showed some of their pace.
It all started already during a solid qualifying session, in which both drivers managed to get into Q3, and for the third time in the 2024 F1 season, Stroll managed to out-qualify his two-time World Champion teammate, by putting his car in P8, while Alonso was 10th.
In the race, which was very tricky to manage for everyone because of the weather, as drivers had to change from slick to intermediate tires and back to slick again, it was mostly about making sure to stay in points-paying positions for Aston Martin drivers.
They managed to do that perfectly, as they followed each other relatively closely, with Stroll finishing in P7 while Alonso was right behind him in P8. Still, the Canadian driver likely looked ahead, seeing Nico Hulkenberg in Haas less than a second ahead of him, which could have been Stroll's equal-best performance of the season had he made it to P6.
Both drivers qualified inside the top ten. Alonso out-qualified his Canadian teammate by one position—0,201 seconds. This meant he would start the race from P7, while Stroll would start from P8.
The race didn't go well for Aston Martin, considering where they started. Both drivers started on the soft compound tire, which turned out not to be the right choice. Ultimately, Stroll was able to rescue one point by finishing in P10. The Spaniard finished right behind him in P11.
The double World Champion had a much stronger qualifying session than his teammate in Belgium. While Lance Stroll qualified in P15, he qualified ninth and even moved up one position before the race due to Max Verstappen's 10-place grid penalty for a new power unit.
The Spanish Matador showed his experience with supreme tire management and pulled off a one-stop strategy to bring home P8. Stroll made some progress up the grid, but it wasn't enough for points- P11.
Fernando Alonso out-qualified Lance Stroll in the Netherlands by 0,224 seconds and placed P7 on the starting grid. Though he was two-tenths of a second slower, Stroll's time was enough to start alongside his teammate in P8.
Though both drivers had decent qualifying, they lacked the race pace and just fell down the order. Ultimately, Alonso held on to P10, while his Canadian teammate finished in P13.
Alonso qualified and started from P11, gained some positions, and was running in P9, but after his second stop, he just didn't manage to catch up with the top 10, finishing in P11 - 0,193 seconds behind Kevin Magnussen in P10.
Lance Stroll started the race from P17 and finished in P19. The Canadian driver had nothing to say after the race other than that he expected Aston Martin wouldn't have enough pace in Italy.
Azerbaijan was one of the best weekends for Fernando Alonso, who qualified in P8 and started from P7 after Lewis Hamilton had changed his engine and had to start from the pit lane.
The Spanish matador managed to make the most of all the opportunities that he had, and he would finish in P8, but a collision between Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz meant he gained two more positions to cross the finish line in P6.
It wasn't as good of a weekend for Lance Stroll, who qualified in P14 and started the race from P13 but didn't finish due to brake problems.
The Canadian driver said that his problem had nothing to do with his collision with Yuki Tsunoda on the opening lap of the race. He was running in P17 before retiring his car on lap number 45.