Fernando Alonso praised his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll after a challenging season for the Canadian driver.
While Aston Martin made great development progress with their car, Lance Stroll unfortunately couldn't make the most of it as he didn't collect a single podium in 2023.
On the other hand, his experienced teammate Fernando Alonso achieved eight podiums this season. While the Spanish Matador was visibly faster and more consistent on track throughout the majority of the season, he has been approving of Stroll's performances.
The Spaniard recently discussed the collaboration dynamics between him and his Canadian teammate. As reported by Sky Sports, he said:
"We talk a lot, we are in contact every week on the telephone, in the factory, in the races and we try to make sure we are all in the same direction, and we share many things."
Stroll had a series of bad weekends from the Dutch to Qatar Grand Prix when he couldn't achieve a single point, but Alonso defended him back then, saying he was "extremely unlucky.'
The 25-year-old then managed to turn his bad luck around and scored multiple decent results for his team towards the end of the season.
"He's been through some difficulties this year; the car was just changing its behaviour a little bit and he was just struggling a little bit more than me and now we fix a few things in the car and now he's back in top form."
The Canadian F1 driver has overcome multiple obstacles throughout the 2023 season, like a hand injury, because of which he almost didn't attend the first Grand Prix weekend. His 42-year-old teammate asserted it has been impressive to watch his dedication and motivation.
"It was impressive to see his dedication, his motivation, in the highs and in the lows. At the beginning of the year with the broken hand, as I said, midway through the season with some difficulties. He was so determined to put things back in place again."