F1 News: Aston Martin must 'change our ideas'

(GMM) Lance Stroll admits that Aston Martin is in the process of changing the direction of development of the team’s disappointing 2024 car.

Last year, his teammate Fernando Alonso achieved an impressive sequence of podium finishes – but the Spaniard declared in Monaco that Aston Martin has now fallen outside the top 5 F1 teams on the grid.

“Right now it’s very difficult for us,” Stroll, the son of team owner Lawrence Stroll, told Le Journal de Montreal at a sponsor event just outside his native city center.

“We are not very competitive,” he admitted ahead of his home Canadian GP, “but I hope that here, on a different track, we can be a little more competitive.”

Aston Martin headed into the 2024 season with an ambitious program of constant in-season car developments, but it has become increasingly clear that many innovations are not working as intended.

“We understand where the problems are in the car,” Stroll, 25, insists. “I think we made decisions and set directions during the winter, and we learned that we have to change our ideas a little.”

But until then, he admits that many of the remaining grands prix this season will be frustrating.

“Last year, we were here to score points and even aspire to the podium,” said Stroll. “At the end of this weekend, just scoring points would be a good result for us.

“But there are still a lot of races, it’s a long season with 24 events, so we are trying to push and find upgrades for the car.”