Stroll on his own year: 'A season full of emotion'

Aston Martin had a top season. No fewer than eight times, the British team managed to reach the podium, always thanks to an excellent Fernando Alonso. His team-mate Lance Stroll, on the other hand, had a rather rough time: he started behind after recovering from an injury, then fell far back, only to show something of class again at the last Grands Prix of the year.

So Stroll cannot sum up his season any other way: "Yeah, really strong start of the season, really difficult middle of the season and then strong end to the season. Some stuff to definitely chip away at for next year. It's been a season full of emotion," the Canadian told the media - including GPblog- a week ago in Abu Dhabi.

Stroll full of admiration for Alonso

While Stroll picked up 74 points (he finished 10th in the championship, ed.), Alonso came to the fine number of 206 points. The Spaniard even finished fourth in the title race, his best ranking since 2013 (when he finished second). Stroll has a lot of admiration for the way his experienced teammate has performed.

"He's had an incredible season for sure. All those podiums and just been super strong all year. Really capitalised when the car was at its best. As a team, we lost out a bit in, kind of, the second half of the season for a big chunk. Teams that we were quicker than kind of McLaren, even Mercedes, Ferrari we were quicker than them for a lot of those races, they picked up their game and finished the season stronger than us. Next year, try and come out with a car that's very strong again out of the box and then try and maintain that throughout the season a little bit stronger. I think that's the goal," Stroll said.