Lance Stroll admits he has work to do to raise his game and perform better in F1 as the remarkable performances of his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso only highlight his own relative weakness.
Many doubted that Alonso's move from Alpine to Aston Martin at the end of last year would result in a mark-up of the two-time world champion's performances.
But the Spaniard has embraced the challenge while Aston has produced an equally outstanding contender that has carried team and driver to six podiums in eight races so far this season.
However, in contrast, Stroll's performance and points deficit to his teammate have put the Canadian in the ropes.
"For sure, in terms of just outright pace, he's been more on top of it than me," said the 24-year-old, speaking ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix weekend.
"He's been quicker, and he's been driving incredibly well.
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"I don't think we as a team have gotten the most out of our weekends. I think we haven't shown some of our true results but there's definitely some work to do, and some things to improve.
"Fernando has been at a very, very high level, and I've got to definitely work on a few things and get better."
Stroll's best result this season has been a fourth-place finish in Melbourne. He sees his disappointing performance year-to-date as rooted in "a combination of things".
"I think things from the car you're always looking for, and things from me," he explained. "I missed a tremendous amount of testing at the beginning of the season, and that's always a big thing.
"But honestly Fernando has just been at a really, really high level. And even when I felt like some of my best days were really good days, he's been that a little bit quicker. He's been at a really high level.
©AstonMartin
"I think we started the season strong, all things considered in Bahrain, and then Jeddah and Melbourne, I think it was good," he added. "Then we hit a bit of a rough patch after Baku. But I know why.
"Miami was tough, because we didn't put the second set of tyres on in Q1. In Monaco, we had some damage in Q2 and Barcelona, we were competitive again. Then in Canada, we had some issues in Q2.
"So, I think there's been reasons why it hasn't been good. I think it's been small details and things to work on. But he's still been quicker for sure.
"So, I'm definitely focused on the things that I have got to work on. And this weekend is another opportunity to do that."
If anything, Stroll felt that the high bar set by Alonso at Aston motivates him to improve.
"For sure, and he's been doing it his whole career," he said.
"He's getting the most out of every car that he's gotten in, and even when it wasn't a winning car, he was kind of able to win with them. I think he's demonstrating that again this season.
"With this car, he's pushing it to the limit and finishing pretty much behind Max at every race. So it's very impressive. And I'm definitely motivated to push and get to that level."
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