"Lance is a lot better than people think": Juan Pablo Montoya defends Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin teammate

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya has defended Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll, claiming the Canadian is a lot better than people give him credit for.

The 24-year-old is currently nowhere compared to Alonso, who has scored podiums in five out of the first six races of the year.

Stroll's outing in Monaco started off on a bad note, having suffered damage during qualifying on Saturday. As a result, the former Racing point driver started in P14 and made a number of improper moves during the main race. Lance Stroll also has what is probably the second-fastest car on the grid right now, but is unable to put in the same level of performance as his teammate Alonso.

However, former driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes the Aston Martin driver has to take risks to find his true potential. Montoya also believes that the Canadian driver is underrated and deserves praise.

Speaking on the Sky F1 podcast, Montoya said:

"Lance is a lot better than people think he is. I think he's very underrated. And I think he's a really nice guy and he's very quiet but I think he needs somebody on his corner to kick his a** and go 'really buddy? You lost two-tenths here because of what?'. He needs to come out of his comfort zone and in a way that's going to be a couple of shunts."

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Did Aston Martin cost Fernando Alonso the win in Monaco?

2009 world champion Jenson Button suggests that if Fernando Alonso's team had made the correct tire strategy choice during the 2023 Monaco GP, he would have been closer to the race-winner, Max Verstappen, at the end of the race.

However, Button believes that even with the right strategy, Fernando Alonso would have still fallen short of claiming victory. Despite his best efforts, the Spaniard crossed the finish line in second place behind Verstappen, unable to match the Dutchman's pace.

In a questionable decision, Aston Martin opted to pit Alonso towards the end of the race and equip him with medium tires, despite the track being clearly too wet for such slick compounds.

As a result, the Spaniard was forced to return to the pits on the following lap to switch to intermediate tires. This unfortunate pit stop cost Fernando Alonso valuable time and allowed the reigning world champion, Max Verstappen, to maintain his lead.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Button said:

“He’ll be happy with that result, that was as good as they were going to do. Even if they went on the right tyre, it would have been a close call coming out of the pits but the Red Bull was just too fast.”

It will be interesting to watch the Aston Martin driver drive on his home track this weekend as the sport heads to Barcelona for the 2023 Spanish GP.