{"id":291243,"date":"2025-11-17T22:10:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T22:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/291243\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T22:10:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T22:10:15","slug":"ralf-schumacher-launches-fresh-attack-on-lance-stroll-face-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/291243\/","title":{"rendered":"Ralf Schumacher launches fresh attack on Lance Stroll: \u201cFace reality\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">Ralf Schumacher has launched a fresh attack on Lance Stroll, describing his form as a \u201cdisaster.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Stroll hasn\u2019t out-qualified <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/f1\/teams\/aston-martin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aston Martin<\/a> teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/f1\/racer\/1\/fernando-alonso\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fernando Alonso <\/a>since last year\u2019s British Grand Prix \u2013 31 races ago.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While the Canadian has racked up 32 points, leaving him just\u00a0eight behind Alonso in the standings, misfortune has often been on the two-time world champion\u2019s side of the garage.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Aston Martin are gearing up for a big year in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">It will be their first season with Adrian Newey-designed machinery and they will also become a Honda works team, aiming to become a race-winning force for the first time.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Speaking on the latest episode of the Sky Germany <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/f1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">F1<\/a> podcast, Schumacher explained why the driver situation remains a problem.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAston Martin is also looking for drivers, of course. The qualifying performance is zero against infinity, so what else is there to say? I know Aston Martin is very sensitive about this, but it\u2019s simple, yes, it\u2019s a disaster.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAnd I\u2019ll say it again, I\u2019m also surprised that Lance, I think it\u2019s hard for him to do that, too. In the race here and there, he can make his mark, but if I\u2019m constantly slower than Fernando Alonso, who is certainly an exceptional talent, but rather at the end of his career, then maybe I should just take off my rose-tinted glasses and face reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Can Stroll be a good number two?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Aston Martin have invested heavily in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">They\u2019ve upgraded their Silverstone headquarters with a state-of-the-art facility and wind tunnel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/xpb_1368079_hires.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Lance Stroll, Aston Martin\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Lance Stroll, Aston Martin<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0XPB Images<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Lawrence Stroll signed Newey to head up the design team, alongside ex-Ferrari chief Enrico Cardile.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Their driver line-up hasn\u2019t changed since 2023, though Aston Martin have been linked with Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, and Oscar Piastri in recent months.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While Schumacher thinks Stroll could be a reasonable \u2018number two\u2019 driver, the team could benefit from two new signings down the line, especially as Alonso\u2019s career will likely come to an end soon.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cTo be fair, it has to be said that Lance Stroll is not the biggest problem at Aston Martin at the moment,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe car itself is an issue, isn\u2019t it? He\u2019s obviously in a position to be a good points scorer, a good number 2 or something, but yes, whatever, I think in this case paternal pride is greater than reality, and you have to accept that.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHis money, his team, so from that point of view, that\u2019s how it is, but looking at it from the outside, you\u2019d probably say that two new drivers at some point wouldn\u2019t be so bad, right, if Fernando Alonso then stops doing everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our F1 Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ralf Schumacher has launched a fresh attack on Lance Stroll, describing his form as a \u201cdisaster.\u201d Stroll hasn\u2019t&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[2495,64,63,845,10310,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-291243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-aston-martin","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-fernando-alonso","12":"tag-lance-stroll","13":"tag-motor","14":"tag-motor-sports","15":"tag-motosport","16":"tag-motosports","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}