Fernando unbeatable, literally
On July 6, 2024, no one realized it at Silverstone, but a historic day was unfolding. It was Saturday, the qualifying for the British GP was taking place, the front row was claimed by the two Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, and the seven-time world champion Englishman the next day would achieve what, to this day, is his last victory in Formula 1. Meanwhile, away from the general attention, Lance Stroll secured the eighth best time in Q3, beating his teammate Fernando Alonso by about three tenths, who set the tenth time.
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To date, that remains the last time Stroll beat Alonso in qualifying. It has been 40 Grands Prix. The two-time world champion Spaniard has achieved an unprecedented streak of 40-0 against his garage teammate at Aston Martin. A statistical figure beyond all logic, which has lasted for almost two years and has spanned three different seasons – the second half of 2024, the entire 2025, and the first four GPs of 2026 – surviving even the perhaps most impactful regulatory revolution in F1 history from the driving style perspective and also the performance crisis of the Silverstone team, which however has not shifted the internal team dynamics by a millimeter.
In the last 40 years of Formula 1 no driver has ever managed to outperform his teammate in qualifying 40 times in a row and it is difficult even to imagine how someone in the future could surpass this result, especially with the increasing number of races on the calendar making it ever more difficult to maintain such consistency throughout an entire championship. More difficult for everyone, but not if your name is Fernando Alonso.
