Fernando Alonso is the 'right guy to learn from', feels probable Lance Stroll replacement at Aston Martin

Felipe Drugovich praised Fernando Alonso after both joined Aston Martin for the 2023 F1 season. The young Brazilian-Italian was announced as the inaugural member of the team's driver development program and became a reserve driver for the team in September 2022.

After Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement, Aston Martin announced Fernando Alonso as their main driver for 2023. Hence, Drugovich met with the Spaniard and had nothing but praise for him.

In an exclusive interview with PlanetF1 in 2022, Drugovich said:

“He needs no introduction and he’s been really nice to me. Hopefully I can learn a lot from him next year. He’s the right guy to learn from.”

Felipe Drugovich further explained how he wants to gain as much experience as possible by working with Aston Martin and a legendary driver like Fernando Alonso. He also praised the team's driver program and how it will help him and several other drivers that will join after him. He said:

“The main goal for next year is getting as much experience as I can. Following the team around, learning as much as I can because it’s a new team for me. Driving is obviously the best thing you can do to get experience but also following the briefings, stuff like that. The ambition is pretty high to make this driving programme work. I’m the first guy into it and they are really willing to make it work and I am the same. I will work really hard to be there one day [on the F1 grid] and hopefully I can start this programme the right way.”

Right before the 2023 F1 pre-season testing, Lance Stroll had an unfortunate bike accident and injured his wrists. Hence, Drugovich replaced the Canadian and drove for Aston Martin during pre-season testing alongside Fernando Alonso. Aston Martin recently declared that if Stroll is unable to recover from his injury, the young Brazilian will also participate in the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP.

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Fernando Alonso felt the effect of Lance Stroll not being with Aston Martin in the 2023 F1 pre-season testing

Since Lance Stroll was unable to attend pre-season testing in Bahrain, Fernando Alonso was the only main driver to work with his new team on a new car. Hence, the Spaniard and the team somewhat missed Stroll during testing since he knew several things about the car and the team that even a veteran like Alonso would not know.

Speaking about Stroll on F1 TV, Fernando Alonso said:

"It hurt a lot. I think we miss him because some of my comments, my feelings with the car, we never know if it’s just me in a new team and a new car. It's just maybe an Aston Martin thing [that I am not used to] and Lance could spot it, brake pedal feeling, power steering, all these things."

He further added:

"I don't know if this is a legacy from the team or if it is just new [for] this car. We cannot do it without him, [so] I hope he can come [back] very soon."

As of now, no one knows whether Stroll will be able to return in time for the first race of the 2023 F1 season or not.