Stroll is down on points but not performance, says Krack

MONZA, Italy : Formula One is always awash with rumours but Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack had to laugh when he heard the one suggesting his Canadian driver Lance Stroll might quit to become a professional tennis player.

The story, Krack assured Reuters at the Italian Grand Prix on Thursday, was nonsense - Stroll and team mate Fernando Alonso will remain next year - but also reflected a wider misunderstanding.

Stroll, 24, started the season with broken wrists from a cycling accident and has so far been eclipsed by his 42-year-old team mate, who is third overall and has scored 121 points more from 13 of 22 races.

While double world champion Alonso has been on the podium seven times in 2023, including three second places, Stroll has a best finish of fourth.

The Canadian is the son of the team's billionaire owner Lawrence Stroll, however, and therefore generally assumed to have a safe seat for as long as he wants rather than being in any danger of the sack.

Krack said the gap between his drivers was in points and not performance, and Stroll was not lacking in motivation or commitment.

There was no indication he might walk away.

"I have to laugh. You read that and go ‘what?’," he said of the tennis story that was also swiftly dismissed by Stroll last weekend.

"At the same time I have a driver who is in meetings with his engineers and trying to understand the car better, trying to improve, going in the simulator afterwards and coming back and having more analysis.

"Obviously there is a media narrative dynamic and there is the reality in the team and they are not compatible at the moment," said the Luxemburger.

"What we see is completely different. We see a hard worker, someone who is really pushing to perform."

Krack said the team