Daily News 19

Tag: Beyond the Grid podcast

  • Aston Martin: Lance Stroll “Unbeatable” at Many F1 Tracks

    Aston Martin: Lance Stroll “Unbeatable” at Many F1 Tracks

    Pedro de la Rosa Praises Lance Stroll’s Raw Speed, Calls Him “As Quick” as Fernando Alonso

    Aston Martin Formula 1 ambassador Pedro de la Rosa has delivered a strong endorsement of Lance Stroll, stating the Canadian driver can match two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in outright pace when the car behaves predictably. Speaking on the Beyond The Grid podcast, the former F1 driver highlighted Stroll’s underrated qualifying speed and racecraft, while acknowledging the machinery challenges that have masked his true level.

    Teammate Comparison Since 2023

    Stroll and Alonso have shared the Aston Martin garage since the start of the 2023 season. Over that span, Alonso holds a decisive statistical edge: he has outqualified Stroll 89 times to 15 and outscored him 335 points to 131. Even in the 2026 campaign, with Alonso now 45 and Stroll more experienced, the Spaniard remains roughly three tenths of a second faster per qualifying lap on average.

    Despite the numbers, de la Rosa—who analyses performance through a data-driven lens—argues the raw speed gap is far narrower than the results suggest.

    “Lance Is Super Fast” – De la Rosa’s Data-Driven Verdict

    “Lance is super fast,” the former F1 driver said. “You know, I love to watch data because I’m data-driven. And I like to see where one driver is faster than the other. And Lance, in many circuits, in many corners, is unbeatable.

    “It’s not like you can say Lance is fast in high-speed, Fernando in… They’re both very evenly matched.

    De la Rosa emphasized that Stroll’s strength spans every corner type, dismissing the notion that either driver holds a sector-specific advantage.

    “Lance is extremely quick in all types of corners. It’s just that sometimes he’s had some mistakes in qualifying or little things that then eventually if you don’t qualify up there, it just compromises the whole weekend. That’s where he’s missing, you know, it’s just sometimes putting everything together in quali.

    “But sometimes he gets it in quali and he outqualifies Fernando, which is like… I mean, we’re talking about Fernando Alonso, you know.

    “And in races, his race pace is impressive as well. He’s very good managing tyres.”

    The Critical Variable: Car Driveability

    De la Rosa was clear that Stroll’s ability to extract maximum performance is highly sensitive to the car’s characteristics. He described the current Aston Martin as “a very difficult car right now for many reasons, not only car, chassis, but also on the engine, we have to make improvements on driveability.”

    “I think Lance is a very underrated driver,” he continued. “When we improve the car and make it a bit more driver-friendly – I must say it’s a very difficult car right now for many reasons, not only car, chassis, but also on the engine, we have to make improvements on driveability – whenever the car is driving properly, he’s as quick as Fernando. There’s no question about that.”

    The ambassador’s assessment reframes Stroll’s deficit as a product of machinery limitations and qualifying consistency rather than a fundamental pace shortage. If Aston Martin delivers a more balanced, driveable package, de la Rosa believes the intra-team battle will be far closer than the standings indicate.

  • Sergio Perez Admits Disappointment With Cadillac’s First F1 Season

    Sergio Perez Admits Disappointment With Cadillac’s First F1 Season

    Sergio Perez says Cadillac’s recent development stall has made the past few Formula 1 races “a disappointment”, but believes the team can still find another second of performance in 2026.

    Cadillac made significant progress during the opening part of the season, pulling clear of struggling Aston Martin and regularly beating the Silverstone-based team to avoid the back of the grid and the wooden spoon.

    That progress has slowed in recent races. Aston Martin’s own upgrades, including aerodynamic developments introduced in Hungary and the Netherlands, combined with Honda’s efforts to improve power, have delivered a notable increase in lap time and left Cadillac behind.

    Perez believes Cadillac has more potential. Speaking on Formula 1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, he said a new team should be improving constantly, but acknowledged that Cadillac’s recent form had flatlined.

    “On everything, I think the last few races have been a disappointment. There’s a lot of disappointment because we haven’t been developing. We haven’t been improving,” Perez said.

    “Us being a new team, this is what we should be doing, like every time. So I felt like there was a bit of a stalling in the last few races.

    “And that’s why we had to review on things, how we were doing everything. Obviously, being a new team, there’s a lot of things that we are constantly learning.”

    Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing
    Sergio Perez, Cadillac Racing. Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

    Perez measured Cadillac’s shortfall in lap-time terms, suggesting the team has found roughly one second of performance during the opening half of the year, rather than the two seconds it had expected.

    Even so, he believes Cadillac is “not that far” from the established teams. Finding another second could transform the team’s competitiveness and allow it to put pressure on Williams, Haas and Aston Martin.

    “I don’t think we have improved as much as we hoped for,” Perez added. “[We have found] I don’t know, a second? But probably we were looking for two seconds.

    “The most important is we understand and we look at our processes, why it hasn’t come, that second? Why we haven’t improved in all those different areas?

    “Because it’s not only one thing, being a new team, there’s a lot of things that are in there. And I can see them, you know. If we improve our load, our ride, a lot of things, all of a sudden, we are not that far.

    “We are at the back, but half a second, one second will change our life completely at this stage, you know? And I feel like for us being a new team, it’s in there. It’s possible.”