Max Verstappen jokes Fernando Alonso’s a ‘life coach’ after latest Lance Stroll moment

From brake balance advice to praise for a good pass, Max Verstappen has joked Fernando Alonso is his team-mate Lance Stroll’s “life coach”.

Last time out at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Alonso helped his team-mate with a brake balance advice as Aston Martin headed towards their third double points-haul of the championship.

“Tell Lance my brake balance suggestion as I am now,” he told the team over the radio. “I think it’s good help.”

Alonso later stated he wants to build Stroll up into a team leader, the Spaniard explaining: “I know that I will be in the sport for a few more years but not many, and he will lead the team for the next 10 or 15 years, so I hope I can help Lance in the next few years.”

He was back at it at the Miami Grand Prix, this time applauding Stroll’s “great move into Turn 1” as the Canadian overtook Alex Albon for position.

But given that position was 13th while Alonso was up in third place, the double World Champion was asked ‘how were you able to see that’ in the post-race press conference.

“I think this circuit we have big TV screens out of some of the slow-speed corners so it was very easy to follow the race on TV,” he replied.

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That had race winner Verstappen joking: “You’re like a life coach! The last race you’re like ‘try my brake balance!’”

Alonso added: “I saw one overtake and I was just curious which position it was. It was a little bit of an unexpectedly lonely race for us. We were thinking to have a more difficult race.”

Alonso went onto record his fourth P3 result of the season while Stroll missed out on points in 12th place.

It had Ralf Schumacher declaring the Canadian is not in the same league as his team-mate.

“Fernando Alonso is not World Champion for nothing,” the former F1 driver told Sky Deutschland.

“Lance is certainly a good driver, better than many, including myself, have claimed in the past. But it’s not enough for Alonso’s class.”

Alonso remains third in the Drivers’ Championship on 75 points, 44 behind Verstappen, while Stroll is P8 with 27 points.

Speaking about his relationship with Stroll after Baku, Alonso made it clear their co-operation is what is helping Aston Martin stay ahead of the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari.

“Lance and I try to help the team everywhere and, if we find something in the car that hasn’t been discussed in the strategy meeting, then we pass it on straight away which is our strength and that’s why we are also second in the Constructors’ World Championship,” he said.