Fernando Alonso feels F1 has only seen “sparks” of Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll so far in his career.
Now in his seventh season in F1, two-time champion Alonso feels Stroll has only shown glimpses of what he is capable of due to a lack of consistency.
From 130 race starts, the Canadian has finished on the podium on just three occasions, all third-place finishes, with the last of those approaching almost three years ago.
Now with Aston Martin and in a car in which Fernando Alonso has delivered six podiums from eight grands prix this season – four thirds and second twice – Stroll has finished no higher than fourth, and that in the crash-strewn Australian GP.
There are obvious mitigating circumstances this year as the 24-year-old broke both wrists in a pre-season cycling accident shortly before the opening race in Bahrain in which he delivered an astonishing sixth.
As his fitness has improved, however, the performances and results are still below what Alonso is achieving in the same car.
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The 41-year-old Spaniard has so far thrown a protective arm around Stroll this season since joining the team, and he remains convinced the talent is there, it is just the consistency that is missing.
“Lance is showing the speed in the car,” said Alonso, who started and finished second in Sunday’s Canadian GP.
“The commitment, we saw at the beginning of the year as well, racing with a broken hand and things like that, you only see when you really have passion for something that you’re doing.
“I think, for him, the most important thing now is to get the consistency, weekend after weekend.
“We saw many times in the past, sparks of Lance, in wet qualifying, in races, at the starts, lap-one performance, these kinds of things that are outstanding.
“Then, some other weekends where the result is not coming, or you get in a bad loop in qualifying, something like that, and then the weekend is a little bit compromised.
“So that consistency is going to be the next step in his career, to be constantly fighting for the top five, and then at the end of the year, you see the number of points that you gain when you get all the weekends right.
“As I said, with the motivation, the commitment he has, and the team Aston Martin is building now, I think it’s a matter of time this will come.”
Stroll and Alonso will next be in action at next weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg (June 30-July 2).
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