Stroll warns Aston Martin four seconds adrift

• Lance Stroll says Aston Martin look roughly four seconds behind the front running teams in Bahrain testing.
• Early lap times show Aston Martin near the bottom, with reliability and pace still missing.
• Stroll points to the engine as a major issue, while praising Adrian Newey’s leadership and focus on speed.

Lance Stroll says Aston Martin are far off the pace as the new Formula 1 season approaches, with the team struggling to show speed in pre-season testing.

The new car, produced under Adrian Newey’s leadership, has yet to deliver performance in Bahrain and has faced reliability issues in the early running.

Stroll was 5.2 seconds off the fastest time when he ran at the start of the first Bahrain test on Wednesday. Fernando Alonso ended Thursday 3.975 seconds off the best lap and was 14th quickest out of 15 drivers who set times.

Stroll, whose father Lawrence Stroll owns the team, said: “Right now we look like we’re four seconds off the top teams, four and a half seconds.

“Impossible to know what fuel loads and everything people are running. But now we need to try and find four seconds of performance.”

Charles Leclerc set the pace for Ferrari with a lap of one minute 34.273 seconds, 0.511 seconds faster than reigning champion Lando Norris in a McLaren.

Testing times can mislead, yet Aston Martin are treating the deficit as real until proven otherwise.

Stroll said it was “just a difference in grip and performance”, and when asked how the team would close the gap, he said: “I don’t think it falls from the sky. I think you have to improve and find performance in the car and the engine.”

Newey described the Aston Martin concept at the team launch as “one of the more extreme interpretations” of the new rules. Rivals have taken interest in the design, but the stopwatch has not backed it up so far. The new Honda power unit, now at Aston Martin after the manufacturer switched from Red Bull, has also yet to show competitiveness in these first sessions.

Stroll said “a big part” of the problems came from the engine. Asked for something positive about the car, he said: “The livery looks nice.”

On Newey’s role as team principal, a job he took on in November alongside being managing technical partner, Stroll said: “He’s all about performance. He’s just obsessed about how he can bring more performance to the car and he’s a great leader overall.”

Aston Martin have tried to keep expectations in check for their first season as a works outfit, and Stroll accepted the current level while insisting the long term target remains the front.

Stroll said: “We are where we are. Do we want to fight for race wins? Yes. Are we fighting for race wins today? Doesn’t look like it. Does that mean we can’t fight for race wins in the future? No, I believe we can.

“I don’t have a crystal ball. It doesn’t look like it’s amazing.”