Alonso explains why ‘sensitive’ Stroll is key to Aston Martin’s success

Fernando Alonso believes that Lance Stroll’s feedback is particularly important to the Aston Martin team, with the Spaniard stating that his team mate is “a lot more sensitive to things” regarding the car than he is.

Alonso and Stroll are now into their second season as team mates at the British squad, and this looks likely to continue into the future, given that Alonso recently signed a new multi-year contract keeping him at the outfit into 2026.

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While the two-time world champion looks to be leading the charge for Aston Martin – Alonso currently on 31 points to Stroll’s nine – Alonso says that both he and Stroll are supporting the process of developing the car, with the Canadian particularly “crucial” in this regard according to Alonso.

Asked during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend if the team are developing around him as the main figure, Alonso responded: “I don’t think so. I think Lance and myself, we are trying to help the team as much as we can.

“I think we have two different driving styles in some conditions. We have two different feelings with the car. I think Lance is a lot more sensitive to things than what I am, which I think is very important for the team.

“I think the analysis that Lance can reach and can feed back to the team is crucial to us and to improve the car. I’m a little bit [less] sensitive to things sometimes, and this is not a good thing.

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“I think we are [both] trying to help Aston as much as we can, and I think that the direction we develop the car and we finalise normally the set-ups on a weekend is exactly the same. We arrive to the same conclusion and maybe in a different way, and I think those two different styles is just a good thing for Aston.”

Pushed further on where he feels that he lacks sensitivity, Alonso explained: “I think sometimes I drive the car around the problems that we have, and that’s sometimes a good thing because I can drive any car at any moment and extract the 90 per cent of it.

READ MORE: Alonso opens up on his 'unique relationship' with Aston Martin team mate Stroll

“But to reach the 100 per cent of the potential of the car, I’m not able to do sometimes without the help from my team mate on the special details on the set-up or balance problems here and there. I think we benefit from each other in many different ways and this is a good thing at the moment.”