Intra-team battles in Formula 1 are always fascinating and plenty are closer than ever.
With so many drivers reaching the end of their deals this year, if a team principal only has one available seat, then you want to make sure you’re the person on top in the championship when it comes to handing out contracts.
Speaking on the Soy Motor YouTube channel, journalist Antonio Lobato believes that one pairing is very badly mismatched at the moment.
While the driver’s market is very interesting, there are a few pairings already decided for next year.
Lewis Hamilton joins Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, while McLaren are very excited about Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Last week, it was announced that Fernando Alonso has extended his agreement with Aston Martin.
The 42-year-old is driving like someone half his age and put in another strong performance in Japan.
Aston Martin may be wondering if Lance Stroll is the right man to pair with Alonso in the long term.
The 25-year-old Canadian was nowhere near the same level as his teammate at Suzuka and failed to score a point for the team after failing to get through Q1.
Lobato isn’t sure Alonso is in any mood to help a driver now entering his 8 season in the sport.
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Lance Stroll faces ‘very big problem’ against Fernando Alonso at Aston Martin
Lance Stroll had a very impressive junior racing career but it’s questionable whether he had done enough to be one of the youngest drivers in Formula 1 history.
He arrived at Williams with huge financial backing and although there were only three points between him and Felipe Massa at the end of his debut season, the Brazilian was by the superior driver.
Stroll just got the better of Sergey Sirotkin the following year before Lawrence Stroll’s investment at Racing Point saw him switch teams.
He then spent two seasons behind Sergio Perez before a much fairer fight in the newly-named Aston Martin team with Sebastian Vettel.
The German was coming to the end of his time in F1 but still doubled Stroll’s point tally in his final campaign.
Fernando Alonso is easily Stroll’s strongest teammate during his Formula 1 career and has been left behind by his Aston Martin since he arrived in 2023.
The idea that the Spaniard might help the 25-year-old overcome his issues doesn’t seem likely.
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Lance Stroll faces uphill battle against Aston Martin teammate
Talking about the battle between Alonso and Stroll, Lobato said: “It’s always good when your teammate pushes you and within what we’re talking about, two drivers who are more or less at the same level.
“This is not the case, for example, with Fernando [Alonso] and [Lance] Stroll.
“Where I believe that Fernando no longer helps his teammate at all. You do not learn anything from Fernando, the only thing he does is make you worry.
“Not because he no longer wants you to match him because the driver himself must be aware that this is impossible because you do not have the level to be able to match him.
“And what you want is to be as close as possible and then it is already a very big problem there.
“Yes, last year it collapsed, this year, I don’t know when it will collapse but it may happen again.”
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Alonso wouldn’t have signed a new deal with Aston Martin if he didn’t believe they matched his ambitions and the benefit of having Stroll as a teammate is that he’ll know he’s always the number one driver.
There have been suggestions that Aston Martin could sign Carlos Sainz to potentially replace Stroll, but that seems very unlikely.
With Honda power units arriving in 2026, there’s optimism that the team can compete for podiums and victories in the near future.
If that’s the case, Alonso would back himself to earn a third world championship before Stroll is capable of putting together any sort of title charge.
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