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Red Bull driver Liam Lawson claimed that former F2 world champion, Felipe Drugovich was quicker than Fernando Alonso and deserved to be in Formula One. The Brazilian driver has been with the Aston Martin team since the beginning of the 2023 season as a reserve driver and has done a couple of free practice sessions that have impressed the paddock with his speed.
Drugovich won the F2 title in 2022 but has been left on the sidelines despite numerous rookies getting a shot full-time next year. While appearing on the PitStop podcast, Lawson, who has been recently confirmed as Red Bull's second driver, believed that the Brazilian deserved a chance in the sport, saying:
"If anybody is deserving a seat right now it's Drugovic man. He's jumped in and done his FP last year in Abu Dhabi was quicker than Stroll, he was third quickest in FP1.
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"This year, I think he was quicker than I don't know what the run plans were you know maybe there were some others but I think he was quicker than Fernando this year as well in FP1. Yeah, he deserves a seat," (27:00)
Aston Martin F1 would continue with their current driver's lineup of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll for the next two years.
Aston Martin team boss gives his take on Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack believed that there was not much of a difference between Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll's competitiveness during the recently concluded 2024 campaign.
Speaking Motorsport Spain, the German spoke about the close margins in the sport with cars having completed three years with the same regulations, saying:
“The car is super-difficult to drive. If Lewis [Hamilton] hadn’t hit the bollard in Abu Dhabi [qualifying], we would have been out in Q1 [with Alonso]. Sometimes it’s very small margins that make the difference. We saw Lance do a brilliant sector two on used tires, quicker than Fernando, so it really is sometimes in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"I think that, in general, there is not that much difference between the two. We look at it objectively and yes, we have a difference throughout the season. We try to analyze it and find it. But I don’t want to start with questions about the drivers, because the car we gave the drivers was not good enough.”
Aston Martin slipped to P5 in the Constructor's Championship and could only score 94 points in 24 races and six Sprints in the 2024 season, with Fernando Alonso scoring the majority of points, 70, as compared to Stroll's 24.
Whilst the 43-year-old finished P9 in the driver's standings, Lance Stroll finished in P13 behind the likes of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda in inferior cars.
