Stroll calls Bahrain a ‘tough weekend’ for Aston Martin as Alonso admits he 'didn't have the pace'

Aston Martin endured a difficult Grand Prix weekend in Bahrain, off the pace throughout with neither driver able to make much progress in the race. Fernando Alonso finished the higher of the duo in 15th with Lance Stroll trailing home in 17th.

While Stroll did make contact with Liam Lawson at one point – an incident that saw the Kiwi racer handed a time penalty – in truth that made little difference to the Canadian’s finishing spot on a night where there was only one retirement.

Even splitting the strategies with Stroll starting on soft tyres and Alonso on mediums failed to impact the duo’s race.

“There's not much to say about today; it's been a really tough weekend for us,” Stroll admitted afterwards. “We are not where we want to be at the moment and we are pushing hard to change that.

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - APRIL 13: Lance Stroll of Canada driving the (18) Aston Martin F1 Team AMR25 — Aston Martin lacked the pace to compete across the entire Bahrain weekend

“Let's see what learnings we can take from this race and how we do next week. The track characteristics in Jeddah are quite different so let's see how we do there, although we are not expecting any big jumps."

Stroll does at least have some points to his name – finishing an impressive sixth in the wet-dry race in Melbourne, before being promoted to ninth in China following three disqualifications.

Alonso is yet to score this year after opening his campaign with two DNFs, and told the media after Bahrain: "We didn't have the pace all weekend and especially tonight. I was extending my stint on the medium tyres, but then the Safety Car balanced everything again and we didn't really benefit from it.”

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - APRIL 12: Thirteenth placed qualifier Fernando Alonso of Spain and Aston Martin — Alonso has still yet to score this season

“We expected it to be a difficult track for us and we need to try improve the car for future races. It's a different challenge in Jeddah, so let's see if we can be any better next week."

Chief Trackside Officer Mike Krack explained that the AMR25 just lacked “outright pace on all the tyre compounds,” in Bahrain, with the entire team seemingly pleased to put that weekend behind them.

They do at least sit seventh in the Championship, ahead of Racing Bulls, Alpine and Kick Sauber thanks to Stroll's early results.