Fernando Alonso feels like a 'big brother' to teammate on F1 grid

Fernando Alonso feels like he's a big brother to his Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll. The Spaniard helped Stroll quite a bit at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP, giving him a slipstream during qualifying and advising him to change the brake balance of the car during the race.

Speaking to Viaplay, Alonso was asked whether he feels like a big brother to Stroll. The 41-year-old smilingly nodded in the affirmative. He explained how he does not have a lot of years left before he hangs his boots. So, he wants to help the young Canadian and prepare him to lead the team in the future:

"In a way, yes, I mean, I know that I will be around not many years, you know, few more years, yeah not not unlimited, and he has 10 or 15 years leading the team in the future. So the time that we will share together the car, you know, I hope I can help him as much as I can."

Alonso also gave his thoughts on Aston Martin's performance at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP. He explained how the car's pace was not ideal due to several issues, including a non-functional DRS, but he was happy with the overall result, as both drivers scored points:

"I try to help the team, and obviously if we find out something in the car that works, you know, and we didn't spoke about in the strategy meeting or whatever, we try to share it.

"I think today we could have scored maybe a few more points, but nevertheless, I think that the weekend has been quite tricky for Aston Martin with all the setup issues, with DRS, and now in the race we were just one second within the podium, so yeah, overall we have to be happy and looking forward to Miami."

Fernando Alonso finished P4, while his teammate Lance Stroll was P7 at the Azerbaijan GP on Sunday.

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Fernando Alonso bemoans Aston Martin's DRS woes at 2023 Azerbaijan GP

After the qualifying session on Friday, Fernando Alonso addressed the DRS issue both Aston Martin cars faced. The DRS flap, which is supposed to open on the rear wing, was non-operational most of the time.

It was sort of a hit-or-miss situation, which cost the team. Speaking to F1.com, Fernando Alonso rued:

“I think … we could have been a little bit better. We had some issues in FP1 and also in qualifying with DRS, which cost us a few tenths."

Despite the issues with DRS, Aston Martin continued their rousing start to the season.