Krack defends Lance Stroll: 'The same for Sergio Perez'

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll is still yet to match the speed of teammate Fernando Alonso. While the two-time world champion gets to uncork champagne on the podium every week, the Canadian has yet to do so this season. Team boss Mike Krack thinks Stroll will improve soon, he told Motorsport.com.

It is known that the son of team owner Lawrence Stroll started the new season with a hefty deficit due to a cycling accident. Junior had to miss out on winter testing and drive his first metres at the Bahrain Grand Prix with sore wrists. Eight races later, he seems to be more his old self again, although teammate Alonso is the fastest Aston Martin driver at nearly every race weekend.

In Canada, Stroll finished ninth, seven places behind his Spanish companion. Team boss Mike Krack points out the importance of a good qualifying session. Whereas Alonso started from the front row of the grid, the driver with start number 18 had to start from 16th place. "In qualifying, he struggled very much with the lack of grip, and then when you don't have confidence, it's very difficult," Krack defends his driver. "Now, on paper, it doesn't look good. You finish ninth, and your teammate second. But if you see where he started, I think it was very good."

The Luxembourger thought it was a sterling race by Stroll in Canada. "He drove very well. We got him out of traffic, and then he drove the same lap times as the leaders. When you are in a DRS train, it is very difficult to drive from 16th place to ninth. It was a great performance, I think." The Aston Martin man even refers briefly to Red Bull driver Sergio Perez's disappointing performance. "Fast cars, like Sergio's, showed how difficult it was to get to the front."

Krack believes the coming weeks will help Stroll. "We know he is very strong on high-speed circuits, and we have some of those tracks coming up. So I am confident that we will be able to score with both cars."